Immunity
by CutePiglet
Summary: After a traumatic experience, Yami Tanaka decided to become a police officer and is now faced with one of the hardest cases the Criminal Investigation Bureau has ever had. Yami suspects the overly popular illusionist Yugi Mutou of being involved with these crimes, but as he looks for answers, his haunting past slowly starts to catch up on him. YxYY
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **I'm pretty excited about this new story! I actually got inspired during class when I suddenly thought about how much I love illusionists. And the entire plot just exploded inside my mind.

I've wanted to write this for, like, forever. It's been a few months since I came up with this idea. I dunno if anyone will be interested in it, but I really wanted to give it a go and hope that people will give this story a chance.

Other genres: Supernatural-ish/Mystery/Romance/Crime/Drama-ish

This story will be rated M because of heavy violence and _maybe _sexual intercourse, but I'm not entirely sure about that yet.

Enjoy!

* * *

_Urawa, Japan  
September 7__th__, day 28, 01:32 am _

It had been two weeks and Rebecca was still feeling like absolute hell. Tears of anger and pain were streaming down her freckled cheeks while she rocked herself back and forth on her bed. Desperate, ugly whines went past her trembling her lips while she wallowed in frustration. Her pink vest was covered in tears and saliva for she had been crying for two hours straight. Everything hurt; her throat, her eyes, her jaw, her chest, _everything._ She could feel the gigantic hole in her heart that could not be filled with the wanted desire.

Rebecca looked around her dark room, outlining all the scattered papers on the floor. Her desk chair was lying on its side; its legs had been ripped out and there were scratches on the brown leather cushions. She had lifted her chair high into the air and smacked it back on the floor on the fourth day.

She couldn't write a proper sentence anymore, she couldn't cook a simple egg, not even draw a proper heart on some post-it. It was as if she couldn't do _anything_ right anymore. Her parents had been gone for the past few months, leaving her alone with her grandfather, Arthur. He wasn't home most of the time, so he had barely noticed his granddaughter's disturbed actions.

If she hadn't known better, she thought she was losing her mind completely. But that couldn't be true. She was _Rebecca Hopkins, _one of the smartest students in town, that girl who always aced every single test, the student who was loved by every teacher, maybe the first young teenager who was going to win a Nobel Prize.

No matter how hard Rebecca tried, she couldn't put her finger on it. Something was happening to her but she didn't have any idea what it could be. She was stressed every once in a while, but after a cup of tea and a good nap, it would be over. However, when she tried to go through said routine, she dropped the kettle on the floor, spilling hot water everywhere, and leaving red patches on her ankles.

After looking around in her room again, she found her full-body mirror. Her reflection reminded her of a five-year-old girl who had stubbed her toe and was trying to put on a brave face. Her usual bright green eyes were now dry and irritated from the amount of tears and her pale face was even paler from the lack of sleep. There were tear tracks on her freckled cheeks, and her blonde hair was sticking to her sweaty forehead.

Barely being able to recognize herself, she shook her head, and looked away from the reflection. The only reason she knew she wasn't imagining things, was because even her teachers at school were worried about her. They had asked her if everything was okay because she looked a little pale and anxious. And every single time, she had told them that there was absolutely nothing wrong in order to keep the rumors at bay.

The wailing continued and Rebecca gripped her head tightly, clawing at her skull with her sharp nails. Everything was a mess. At first she thought she was having one of those crappy days, but she never experienced it for _two weeks straight. _Even talking had become one of the hardest tasks, which made her feel even more miserable.

Because she was gripping so hard, her nails had dug into her skull, causing her to hiss in pain. Quickly pulling her hands back and wringing them together to get rid of the sticky liquid, she forced herself to calm down, which was a hard thing to do. In order to calm herself down, she had screamed into her pillow, punched in her walls, kicked her bookcase; _anything _to get rid of the anger.

And yet, there was still that hole that needed to be filled. There were wounds on her knuckles from all the punches, but the psychical pain wasn't soothing whatsoever. She couldn't think of anything else that could help her control this rage inside her—

"Rebecca? Everything all right, dear?"

_Ting. _

Something popped into the back of her head, and before she could stop herself from reconsidering, she got up from her bed and walked over to her door. Her grandfather, Arthur, was looking down at her with his kind blue eyes. There was a worried look on his face and a thin line had replaced his usual gentle smile. He reached out for her shoulder with his wrinkly hand, but Rebecca walked past him, and went downstairs.

"Beckie, where are you going?"

Even that nickname that she had always adored didn't cheer her up. Usually it made her smile ever so lightly, but it was as if someone else had taken over her body. She could no longer control the muscles in her legs, or her arms as she walked to the kitchen. Her eyes had already adjusted to the darkness and it didn't take very long to find what she was looking for.

Arthur followed her to the kitchen and turned on the lights. "What's going on, dear?" he tried again.

Rebecca turned around, earning a huge gasp from him. She had pulled out one of the biggest kitchen knifes which he used to cut the meat with. His granddaughter was holding it dangerously close to her small neck, but she merely stood there, not moving. Her hand shook lightly under the weight of the large knife, and there was an unfamiliar distant look in her usual bright eyes.

She looked _drained. _

"I…" she muttered, lowering the knife. "I have to do this. It will fill the hole."

"What hole, what are you— No, wait!" Rebecca had leaped towards him with the knife, coming alarmingly close to his chest. Still a bit weakened from the lack of sleep he had had, he could barely stop her. Arthur took a few risky steps backwards, bumping into one of the cupboards and knocking over a few pans that were still standing on the counter.

"Rebecca, what's gotten into you!?" Arthur yelled, ducking when she aimed at him once again with the knife. She started yelling at him to stand still so she could stab him, in an almost pleading way. Tears were streaming down her cheeks while she kicked the pans aside so there was nothing in her way.

"Just let me do it," she hissed. "It'll stop the pain."

Arthur shook his head, finally accepting that his granddaughter had lost her mind. He quickly made a run for it, but Rebecca was quicker. Grabbing his arm in a swift move, she turned him around and put the knife through the left side of his chest.

Blood spat out of the wound, right onto her face. The deafening scream melted into a soft, pathetic cry of help when Arthur finally sank to his knees. He coughed and a small amount of blood seeped out of his mouth, right onto her vest.

However, she wasn't done yet. Rebecca continued to stab him, yelling more and more with every stab until she was completely sure he was dead. Over and over she stabbed, her voice eventually dying in her throat until she couldn't scream anymore. The body was slumped against her own, coating her clothes with a good amount of blood.

Realization dawned on her and she blinked, looking down at the body. Her eyes darted to the knife, then to her grandfather.

Knife—body—knife—body—knife—_body…_

For the first time in weeks, her lips curled into a smile. Just as she had expected, the hole in her chest was filled. She had finally got rid of the uncontrollable anger. But she had to get out of here before anyone saw what happened.

Quickly pulling the knife closer to her and putting her vest over it, she ran out of the kitchen, towards the front door. After she had roughly opened it with her free hand, she took a few steps outside and looked around. Before she could change her mind she started running, but stopped when she saw her neighbor, Shizuka Kawaii.

That red hair and blue bathrobe stuck out like a sore thumb even in the middle of the night. Rebecca stayed where she was, nailed to the ground. She clutched the bloody knife even closer to her, feeling the sharp tip poking at her arm.

"Rebecca, is that you? I heard weird noises and was wondering if everything's okay," Shizuka yelled at her. Rebecca couldn't make out her face, but her voice sounded slightly alarmed and shocked. She must have heard _everything. _

She had to get out of there. So without saying anything, Rebecca ran past her and ignored Shizuka's yelling. Her short legs ran as fast as they could carry her and not once did she look back. Her legs continued to run aimlessly for a few minutes, her breaths becoming faster to get more air into her begging lungs.

After turning around a corner, someone suddenly appeared in front of Rebecca, causing her to bump into them.

"Oof!"

She looked up and she squinted to get a better look at the man. He had pulled his black cloak over his face so only the tip of his nose and round jaw were visible, but through the darkness Rebecca could see the familiar eyes. Those eyes looked down at her, sparkling excitingly.

"You did very well. I'm proud of you," he said softly, crouching down so he was on eye-level with her. "As promised, here's your prize."

Before she could even utter a word of response, he placed the tips of his fingers against her forehead. A burning pain like she had never felt before spread through her entire body like some horrible kind of disease. Screaming out of pain, she tried to push him away with her bloody hands, but he was far too strong for her.

Her mind could only focus on the pain as it intensified each passing second. She barely felt the other on her chest where the man's nails were almost cutting through the fabric of her shirt. A very bright light almost blinded her as the stranger pushed deeper and deeper into her chest.

When his hand pulled back from her chest, a huge glowing orb was resting in it. Rebecca immediately fell back to the ground, her eyes still open and moist with tears of pain.

"Good girl."

* * *

_Tokyo, Japan  
September 7__th__, day 28, 08:46 am _

Public transport was not exactly reliable when it came to being on time. Yami Tanaka's train would leave in about two minutes and he was _still _not at the central station. It was only one stop away and he kept his eyes glued to his watch, praying that he would still make it.

Kaiba, his boss, expected him to be there at nine sharp. He had simply been too lazy to get out of bed earlier and it was now biting him in the ass.

_"Tokyo Central Station. Please do not forget to check out and bring your personal belongings with you if you are leaving the vehicle."_

"Finally," Yami muttered, standing up from his seat and walking towards the doors. The metro slowly came to a stop and he impatiently waited for the doors to open. Sprinting down the gigantic hall of the station after he had checked himself out and in again, he went around the corner and ran up the stairs. His train was already there and the conductor was standing outside, looking around if anyone else was going to enter the train.

Yami raced towards the train, ignored the weird look the conductor was giving him and got in before the doors closed. He felt like he was going to puke because he hadn't run this fast in a very long time. His lungs were on fire and beads of sweat trickled down his pale neck.

"Never. Ignore. Alarm. Clock. Again," he panted to himself, wiping off the hot liquid on his forehead. He only had about ten minutes to catch his breath before the train stopped at his next station.

After the doors had opened, Yami stepped out of the train and looked at his watch, letting out a small whine. It was a little over nine o'clock and he knew Kaiba would now have an excuse to give him another tiring speech.

About a month ago, Yami had become a police officer at the Criminal Investigation Bureau at the Crime department in Tokyo. Until now, nothing "exciting" had happened because Kaiba had merely treated him as an intern and let him run around like an aimless puppy. At the end of each day, he had to do all the paperwork and clean up afterwards and he was beginning to regret his choice.

But he had worked so hard to pass the exam that it would probably be a huge loss if he quit just because he was stuck with a stupid boss.

If only—

_"TANAKA!"_

He had been so lost in thoughts he had barely noticed he was already in the building.

"Here we go," Yami muttered, already exhausted.

"You're late."

"Wow. What gave it away?"

A tall man with chocolate colored hair walked over to him, his crystal blue eyes boring holes into his skull. Of course his boss didn't appreciate him being late, but there was actually nothing to be late for, anyway.

Kaiba looked him up and down, as if he were examining him closely. "Still sassy as always. Be careful, you don't know how clumsy people can be here, especially when they're walking around with very _hot _coffee," he sneered. Then, his expression slightly changed. "Get your ass to my office, I want to have a chat."

For the first time, Yami felt scared he might lose his job. He had always had a big mouth and Kaiba never seemed to have such a huge problem with it, other than making him run around like a dog chasing its tail. He huffed, dropped his bag and followed Kaiba to his office.

He had only been in his office once and that was when he had accidentally insulted their captain in front of everyone. She had bumped into him and told him to piss off, and he threw a pretty creative insult right back at her. Kaiba had called him to his office and he had to stay there the whole night to finish a long lost report.

Speak of the devil... Yami blinked when he saw the woman he had just thought about sitting in his boss's office. Her long, elegant legs were crossed, leaving almost nothing to the imagination as her skirt had ridden up quite a bit. Her blonde hair reached her lower back and she carefully brushed her bangs out of her face, so the violet eyes became visible. The red painted nails on her manicured hands tapped impatiently on the wooden desk while she watched the two men enter the office.

Mai Kujaku never failed to be charming, yet devilish at the same time. Every time Yami saw her walk around, he couldn't help but follow her with his eyes. The captain of the team had one of the highest functions in the entire department so no one would dare to disobey her. Except him of course.

"Hey there, squirt. Been a while," Mai said, rising to her feet and brushing out her dark blue uniform. "I don't think we've ever had a… _real _conversation. Other than, what was it, 'Get your ugly bitch ass out of the way yourself,'" she finished with a cynical smile.

"Those were not even my exact words, but—"

"Shut up and shove it up your ass, Tanaka. Like I said, I wanted to talk with you about something really important." Kaiba pushed him out of the way and went to take a seat behind his desk.

Yami shrugged and walked over to the only non-occupied chair in the room, which was right next to Mai. Kaiba grabbed a remote that was on his desk and turned on the small TV, which was in right corner of the office, and motioned for both his colleagues to watch.

A skinny woman appeared on the screen, sitting behind a desk with her hands folded over each other. Behind her was a smaller screen, which displayed a house and a picture of a girl no older than sixteen.

_"_… _still not sure what has exactly happened here in Urawa. The only thing we know is that Arthur Hopkins was brutally murdered last night. The police have already searched the area for clues, or footprints, but the only thing they've found was the knife Hopkins was murdered with. Hopkins' granddaughter, Rebecca, went missing last night as well. Police say that she might have outrun the murderer, but nothing is certain yet. If you've seen or heard of her, please call this number and—"_

The TV was turned off again and both Mai and Yami turned to their boss.

"That's us. We're gonna go there as soon as you're ready." Kaiba gave Yami a look, and that's when an awkward silence followed.

"Oh, so that's why you were so pissed I was a bit late…" he said lamely. "But… You're saying I can come with? You never let me go anywhere."

"The only reason I am taking you with me is because Mai made a valid point," Kaiba gave her a nod and Mai turned to him with a lopsided grin.

"Newbies always act like nerds and who knows, they might see things we don't. Katsuya Jounouchi was a newbie not too long ago and he made it to be corporal in just a few years time. Maybe you'll end up like him since he turned out to be a great help."

"Yeah, and not just in the investigation department," Kaiba muttered, causing Mai's cheekbones to turn red under the thick layer of foundation she was wearing. Yami tried to hide his huge grin behind the back of his hand as Mai brushed past him with her head held high. "I've got everything I need right here. After a few phone calls, I got the address and everything else. Go get your stuff, Tanaka. We're leaving in five."

After Yami had grabbed his bag and some stuff out of his own office, they drove off in one of their police cars. The drive was pretty short, about fifteen minutes, and Yami looked at one of the traffic signs, and found out they were in Urawa.

The minute they got out of the car, Yami wanted to gawk at the scene playing in front of him. Yellow tape was put around the trees that were surrounding the house, as if to separate the house from the world. Other police cars with their sirens still on had surrounded the area and were gently telling everyone in the area to leave. There was a young woman standing in front of the house with her arms crossed over her small chest, her hands clinging to the blue bathrobe she was wearing.

Her long red hair looked like an absolute mess; as if she had just come out of bed. There was a policeman standing not too far away from her, talking to her while taking notes.

Clearing his throat, Yami straightened his black tie and followed Kaiba to the house.

"... ran away before I could even catch a glimpse of her. I'm very sorry that I can't really help you with your investigation." The woman spoke in a very quiet and tired voice. You could still hear the shock and mourning because of the shakiness.

Kaiba marched over to her and quickly told the other policeman to piss off.

"I'm sorry, miss. He's an amateur," Kaiba said, glaring at the man he had just sent off, who was scurrying away from them. "My name is Seto Kaiba, Chief of the Criminal Investigation Bureau in Tokyo. And this is a newbie, Yami Tanaka, a mere police officer who thinks he's good at his job."

This made the woman laugh quietly and Yami was just in time to stop himself from punching the living daylights out of his boss. But maybe Kaiba was just trying to cheer her up.

"Could you tell us who you are exactly?"

The woman bowed slightly, tying the belt tighter around her small waist. "My name is Shizuka Kawaii. I'm Rebecca's neighbor. I live right over there," she said, pointing at a house a few feet away from them. "I'd been living here for about six years when the Hopkins's moved in. We always got along well; we were not exactly close, or anything, but every time we ran into each other, Rebecca would always greet me with a happy smile."

"Should I write this down?" Yami muttered softly so only Kaiba could hear him.

"I wouldn't know. Unless you've got an amazing memory, which I doubt, so yes, I'd write it down if I were you. Then again, who am I to give you orders?"

Yami rolled his eyes, pulling out a small notebook with a pen attached to it. "All I wanted was a simple answ—"

"What do you know about Rebecca and her grandfather?"

With a small growl, Yami flipped his notebook open and started writing everything down.

"Well, I barely know her grandfather because he only came over every now and then. But I saw Rebecca's parents leave a while ago, I don't know why, and that Arthur came over to act as her guardian for the time being. She is only fourteen, after all."

"Can you explain what happened last night?"

Shizuka took a deep breath before she parted her lips to speak, "I think it was around 1:30 in the morning when I heard all these weird noises. It was clattering, if I remember correctly. As if someone was busy cooking dinner. I ignored it at first because I thought it was none of my business, but when I heard screaming, I turned on my lights and looked out of the window to see if everything was okay. Unfortunately the curtains were closed so I couldn't see what was happening. I heard more screaming and more clattering so I went to check it out. When I started walking, the weird noises stopped."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow at the odd statement. "They stopped?"

"Yes, it went incredibly quiet. But that only made it even weirder. I was coming up with all these other scenarios to calm myself down such as: someone had been sleepwalking and had accidentally opened a cupboard, or they had wanted to cook themselves a small snack and messed up, _anything _to not think of what my paranoid mind was coming up with. Then Rebecca came running towards me and stopped when she saw me. I asked if everything was okay but she just stood there, completely immobile. It was too dark to see her face so I couldn't see any emotion. Maybe if I could have seen her face, I would've known what was going on. And after that she just—ran past me without looking back. I yelled at her to come back, and ran after her for a while, but after a few seconds I couldn't see her anymore so I gave up."

Yami's hand had started to hurt because he had to write really fast, but he continued nonetheless.

"I looked back at their house and saw that the front door was open. My curiosity got the best of me and went over to their house and I really _shouldn't _have done that," Shizuka's voice cracked at this point and Yami stopped writing for a moment to look up. The young adult honestly looked like she had seen a ghost. There were tears in her eyes, threatening to fall down and she was rubbing her forehead with her fingers. "What I saw was… er…" She gritted her teeth and covered her eyes, sniffling.

"The body of Arthur Hopkins?" Kaiba said in a low voice.

Before Shizuka could utter a response, she let out a small, broken sob. "Y-yes. He had been stabbed more than just a few times. The murderer was obviously not satisfied after just one stab. There were at least… _thirty. _His entire body was a bloody mess. I just think Rebecca was quick enough to get away from the murderer."

"But was there anyone else in the house?"

"I'm not sure. I ran back to my own house to call the police. I didn't want to spend another second there."

"That's okay. Do you have any idea who it could have been?"

"I… er… Don't know, sorry. Like I said, we're not that close. And I have no idea if Arthur had any enemies or why anyone would want to kill him in the first place. He was a nice guy."

Tears were pouring down her cheeks and Yami was honestly beyond impressed that she could keep her voice steady enough to answer these questions. Kaiba was about to ask another question, but Yami quickly put a hand on his arm.

"That's enough questions for now. Leave her be," he murmured under his breath. His boss looked down at him for a moment before he sighed.

"Thank you. You can leave now."

The three of them bowed and Shizuka slowly walked back to her house, with her chin pressed to her chest. Kaiba continued to watch her like a hawk until she finally closed the door behind them, so he was compelled to turn back to Yami.

"We should find out if she has an alibi."

Yami blinked before the words truly hit him. "Who, _her? _Did you see the look on her face? She's obviously not capable of hurting someone, let alone commit murder."

For the umpteenth time this month, Yami resisted the urge to put his foot in Kaiba's ass, as he looked down at Yami as if he was dealing with a toddler. "You're even more stupid than I thought. Looks can be deceiving. I've dealt with thieves and murderers who all had their own sob stories and had the ability to cry on command. I stopped buying that shit after a few months. Just because she looks cute to you, doesn't mean she is. We're keeping an eye on her, and we're going to ask the other neighbors some questions as well. It's usually the quiet ones, anyway."

And with that, Kaiba walked towards the front door and roughly ripped off the tape so he could enter. Yami quickly put the notebook back in his pocket and jogged over the front door as well. He was quite shocked when he saw Kaiba standing in the kitchen, surrounded by small puddles of dried blood. How the guy could stay this calm was a true mystery to him.

"Obviously it happened here. I'll look here and you go to the kid's room."

With a small nod, Yami did as he was told and went upstairs to look for Rebecca's room. From the corner of his eyes he saw a room with green and blue walls covered in cartoons, he took a wild guess and assumed it was the room he was looking for. Though, his eyes widened when he entered the room.

It was a complete mess. Books and clumps of paper were scattered over the floor, a chair was laying on the ground and was missing its legs, several things on the desk were knocked over and, Yami's eyes fell on a hole in the wall. He carefully stepped over the loose papers and the chair and ran his fingers over the small hole.

The hole was small, about the size of a… Yami narrowed his eyes and made a fist with his right hand so he could compare the sizes. His hand was slightly larger than the hole itself and there was no doubt that someone with a small hand had punched a hole in the wall.

There was certainly no doubt that Rebecca had been beyond pissed at something. That, or someone else had taken out their anger on her room.

"Found anything?"

Kaiba stood in the doorway and wore a rather serious expression. Yami knelt down on the floor so he could look at the books and papers while he nodded.

"Maybe. Either Rebecca was attacked here or she did all of this by herself, which I highly doubt."

"Why?" Kaiba said, taking a few steps closer so he could kneel down as well. "A fourteen-year-old would be capable of making this mess, believe me." Yami pointed over his shoulder at the hole in the wall.

"Would a teenage girl be capable of punching a hole in a wall?"

"With a little bit of technique, sure," Kaiba said, shrugging. He grabbed a few pieces of paper and read them, and while he did, Yami continued to walk around. Between all the other stuff, he saw a large purple ticket on the desk. Frowning slightly, he reached for the ticket and pored over it. It was about to size of a post-it and had a picture of a pale, skinny guy who looked like he was somewhere in his twenties. He was wearing a large black hat and his violet eyes looked at him mischievously.

_Illussionist Yugi Mutou front row ticket  
_

"… Who?" Yami asked no one in particular.

All of a sudden, Kaiba was standing next to him and had apparently read it over his shoulder. "Ah, Yugi Mutou. I know him because my little brother wants to see his show and also because he's been all over the news. They say he's incredible."

"How come I've never heard about him, then?"

Kaiba grabbed the ticket out of his hands and rolled his eyes. "Because you're you. Now let's go back to the office, we've got a lot of work to do."

* * *

**Author's note: **I am _so _happy I finally finished this. Even though I should be studying for midterms. I really hope this first chapter is okay. ;_;

Please review! x3


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's notes: **HA. An update. Okay, excuses this time: school, writer's block (like, you don't even know) and the fact that I've learned how to make GIFs. Yeah, it's kinda addicting. Sorry.

Thank you so much for the reviews, I'm so happy people are interested in this story! ausidlfhja *squeals and rolls around the floor*

Writer's block is killing me. ;_; It took forever to write this chapter and I apologize for any grammar/spelling mistakes that I might have made but I felt so guilty for not updating _anything _in forever that I just had to upload this.

**Warning:** This chapter contains slight gore and some traces of violence.

* * *

_Warabi, Japan  
__August 29__th__, day 19, 8:30 pm_

For some reason, Leon was having a lot of troubling focusing on his test. The letters seemed to move around quite a lot and he was having the strangest urge to grab the piece of paper and throw it at his teacher's head. Said teacher was sitting on the edge of the desk, watching everyone like a hawk to make sure there was no cheating in his class.

Sadly, summer school was even worse than "regular" school. Since Leon had failed his last test, he was stuck here with a few other students who had failed one of their classes or were simply so interested in history, that they couldn't stay away from it. Leon on the other hand, hated history class and continued to stare at the thin paper. The test was about Japan's role in the Second World War, and something about Pearl Harbor, but that was about everything Leon remembered after reading the first page five times.

Studying for this test hadn't been that hard, but now it was as if all the information had floated out of his head and disappeared. He couldn't remember _anything _about World War II and was now probably faced with the awful consequences. His parents weren't going to be very happy to hear he had fluked another test.

"You have five minutes left."

"_What?_" Leon exclaimed, shocked. Everyone looked up at him, several people snickered, other people quickly whispered something to their neighbor, and others just stared. His teacher looked down upon him, over the rim of his square-shaped glasses.

"I said you have five minutes left, Schroeder. Go back to work. Everyone, eyes on your own test."

Leon had no idea 45 minutes had already passed. He looked at his answer sheet and sighed inwardly at seeing he had barely written anything down. There was no way he was going to be able to save himself out of this one.

He got up, handed in his test and walked out of the classroom. Several pairs of eyes were watching him leave and he felt his face heat up in embarrassment. Another student rose to her feet to hand in her answer sheet and followed him on the way to their lockers. Leon felt awkward, knowing that they were the only one in the hallway and that he had absolutely nothing to talk about.

He had always been rather shy and especially around people he didn't know. The kid that was now standing a few feet away from him was Miho. Other girls had spread rumors about her, saying she was a very shy girl and didn't have any friends. Her long lilac hair was tied back into a high ponytail and she had placed a ribbon on top of it.

Leon could see she was hiding her face behind her long bangs so he could barely see her eyes. She always paid attention, wrote everything down in her notebook, got good grades, and yet refused to talk to anyone. Whenever a teacher asked her a question, she always knew the right answer, but talking to anyone else? Never.

Anger started spreading through his body; Miho probably thought she was too good to talk to the others. The anger was rising up in his chest and before he could stop himself, he turned to her, eyes glaring daggers at his classmate.

"Bitch," he muttered under his breath. He blinked and waited for her reaction, which was a soft squeak.

"Sorry?" Miho turned to him with a tiny smile. "Did you say something? I-I easily get lost in my own thoughts, especially after a test."

"I said that you're a bitch."

Her smile quickly faded away and a small frown appeared on her face. "What?"

"You're a nerd and probably too arrogant to talk to anyone else who's 'beneath' you. You're just a little twit who wants to show everyone that she's so perfect she doesn't need anyone else."

Miho looked beyond confused. She was clutching her books close to her chest and staring at him as if she couldn't believe what he was saying. "W-what? I don't—"

"Just get outta here. No one likes you," Leon spat, throwing one of his indoor shoes at her. Miho wasn't quick enough to dodge the flying slipper and it hit her square in the eye. She yelped out in pain, doubled over and clutched her injured eye.

The others from class were on their way to the lockers as well and saw the little scene. One of the taller guys in class yelled, "Oi, what's your problem?"

"She is," Leon said, pointing an accusing finger at Miho, who was now crying softly into her hand. Another girl rushed over to her and put an around her shoulder in a comforting way. "Don't pretend that you care."

"Of course I care!" the girl yelled. "Stop acting like an ass. She did nothing wrong."

"Whatever, I have better things to do in my life." Leon threw his other slipper on the ground, put on his outdoor shoes and was about to walk away, but the same taller guy stopped him.

"Chill. What was that all about? Miho's a nice girl."

In less than a second, Leon had punched the guy right in the face and ran off. The other classmates gasped in horror and the guy cried out in pain. He ran off, ignoring the yelling from the others, feeling a rush of satisfaction pumping through his veins.

* * *

_Tokyo, Japan  
September 7__th__, day 28, 03:29 pm _

It was pretty heavy to stare at a corpse for a long time, especially if you are not sure what you are looking for. The body of Arthur Hopkins had been dead for over 12 hours and it was showing by the stiffness of the muscles and the trouble Yami had moving his arms up and down.

By looking at all the cleaned up gaps in the pale body, Yami had no doubt the cause of death was simple, so there was no question about that. There was a light bruising on his upper arm, which looked somewhat fresh, so maybe he was grabbed by the murderer while he tried to fight back.

Yami ran his gloved hands over the body, studying the gaps. There was one on the left side of his chest, and more all over his chest. From what he could tell, the wounds were quite random, because they looked like half-assed stabs.

He wrote everything down in his logbook for personal notes (and maybe to avoid other paperwork) and references. He was alone in the cold room, surrounded by creepy looking utensils and other things to help with the autopsy. Shizuka had been here a few hours ago to identify the body and when she saw the almost unrecognizable face of her neighbor, tears started trickling down her pale cheeks again.

After a few minutes, Yami gently led her out for he was pretty sure she hadn't slept ever since she discovered the body. Kaiba wanted to keep her here for further questioning and after a quick argument, Yami gave up (knowing it was best not to argue with his boss) and said, "Fine, she's all yours. I'll stay with the body."

And so, here he was, waiting for his boss to finish up. Yami grimaced at the corpse's face and pulled the cover over it again, deciding he was done. Just when he was about to leave the room, Kaiba walked up to him, motioning for him to go back inside again.

"Yo, chief," Yami said casually, turning around after Kaiba closed the door. He was carrying a large plastic bag with the word "_EVIDENCE"_ on it, and Yami felt his heartbeat fastening.

"Found anything out of the ordinary?" Kaiba said, tipping his head towards the body.

"Nothing, at all," Yami answered, reaching for his notes, skipping through the pages. "About thirty stab wounds, some bruises on his arm, but other than that," his lips curled into an apologizing smile. "nothing. Typical murder if you ask me."

For a moment, Kaiba's lips formed a thin line on his face and looked at him, making Yami almost raise an eyebrow. "About that," he started, walking towards one of the silver tables so he could lay down the bag. "Observers found this in the neighborhood."

He reached for the end of the bag and gave it a rough tug, so the content fell out. There was a small crumbled up pink vest, some glasses and a bloody kitchen knife.

"Told me they found it about twenty feet away from the house, after Shizuka had told them in which direction Rebecca went running. I asked Shizuka if she recognized any of these things and she claims the vest and the glasses belong to Rebecca, but she didn't know the knife."

Kaiba smoothed out the vest and Yami scrunched up his nose when he saw several blood patches on it. "Whose blood is that?"

"They already took a sample. It's either her grandfather's, or the murderer's. Or maybe her own. Her glasses are useless, but the knife…" Kaiba turned round and faced Yami with an almost obsessed look in his cold blue eyes. "Get out the body again so we can compare the knife and the wounds."

Yami didn't need to be told twice and quickly removed the large cloth off the body. The knife was held close to the largest wound, which was the one near his heart and to both adults' content, it fitted. The width of the knife was the exact same size as the wound.

"Now all we need is to wait for the lab's results and we can probably confirm this knife is what killed him. There were fingerprints on it, too," Kaiba's eyes were glittering with so much excitement that it was scaring the younger police officer. "And luckily, there was a blonde hair stuck on the glasses, so we have Rebecca's DNA as well. Let's see if—"

"Wow, stop," Yami raised his hands, a confused look in his eyes. "You think _Rebecca, _a fourteen year old chick, murdered her _own grandfather? _And then, what, disappeared into the night? That—"

"Makes perfect sense, yes, I know," Kaiba finished, smirking in victory. "It's the perfect story. Teenage girl loses her mind, kills her own grandfather and runs away so no one can find her. 'Twas a bit stupid she left the knife behind, though. Obviously she's not very experienced."

The thought of a teenager being capable of murder made Yami feel incredibly sick. Of course it comes with the job of being a police officer, but he hadn't expected to deal with a boss who thought adolescents were _that _crazy. They _had_ to find Rebecca to get some answers.

"If it turns out that the blood on this vest," Kaiba picked up the vest and looked at with disgust, "belongs to Arthur Hopkins and the fingerprints on this knife," he held up the knife with his other hand, "match Rebecca's DNA, then we can officially connect the dots and say that Rebecca's the murderer here. Even if it sounds crazy. I've seen crazier anyway."

He shoved everything back in the bag and ignored Yami's protest.

"She could've been forced by the real murderer," the other muttered stubbornly.

"I don't care. That means she still committed a crime. If I were forced to murder my own family, I'd kill myself in their place," Kaiba growled, facing Yami again. "That way, I would go flying into that stupid light, knowing I did the right thing. I wouldn't be a murderer. I'd never kill my family no matter what."

Both men stared at each other for a good few seconds. Yami refused to believe it, even after what Kaiba told him about never killing his own family. Maybe Rebecca didn't want to kill Arthur at all, or maybe she was indeed forced and Arthur told her it was okay. No, someone had been gripping his arm; he had obviously struggled…

But—

"Boys."

They looked up to see Mai in the doorway, holding her long arm against the door to keep it open. She had a serious look in her big violet eyes, and Yami knew what she was going to say right away. A rush of adrenaline pumped through his veins and his brain was on red alert.

"Another murder."

Without any sign of hesitation, Kaiba took a step forward and nodded. "On it. Fill me in," he said, grabbing Yami's tie and dragging him along while the three of them walked towards the exit of the building. Mai grabbed her notepad and looked through it. Yami grunted and tried to get out of Kaiba's grip, but his grip was so strong that he was forced to stretch his neck out and follow along.

"Three minutes ago, there was a distressed woman on the phone who claimed that she saw her own son killing her husband in front of her. She managed to get away before her son took off with the wrench still clutched in his hands. Other men are already on their way to Warabi to investigate. Her name is Chisako von Schroeder, her son, who apparently killed him, is called Leon and her husband's, the victim, name is Hayate."

Yami was barely keeping up with what she was saying as she spoke at rapid speed. But apparently that was the way things worked around here because Kaiba merely nodded at what she was saying, still pulling Yami along.

"Killed a loved one, ran away with the weapon… Sound familiar to you, Yami?"

"What, you think these two murders are connected?" the younger one breathed out since he was having trouble keeping up with their fast pace. Damn his shorter legs.

"Depends. How old is this Leon kid?"

"She didn't say. But I agree with you; these two murders could be connected to one another. Maybe those kids formed a club of some sorts. Whatever's going on, you two are going to figure it out one way or another. I'll be here if you need me. I've already texted you the coordinates."

She waved at them as they got into Kaiba's car to drive towards Warabi. Yami was still trying to comprehend what was happening. After almost a month of boredom, there were suddenly _two murders in one day. _He felt Kaiba pulling his seatbelt over his chest and securing it in place since he had forgotten to do so.

"See if you can find anyone with the name Leon von Schroeder," Kaiba said, turning the keys in the lock, letting the car roar to life. He practically slammed his foot on the gas pedal while Yami got out his phone to web-search the guy's name.

After a few seconds of driving, Yami opened his mouth, "Leon von Schroeder, student at Warabi Junior High, 3rd grade, fifteen years old, went to summer school because his grades had started dropping. Found a school picture of him, which I will show you later—"

"No, show me now. I can multi-task." Kaiba snatched the phone out of his hands and stared at picture of the teenager for two seconds before he fastened his eyes on the road again. "Okay, so he's also a teenager. Don't tell me you don't see a link here."

"We'll see when we get there."

They fell into a pretty awkward silence for the rest of the short trip. It took about ten minutes to get to Warabi, since Kaiba was driving (tolerably) fast, and when they got out of the car, Yami stared at the gigantic house in front of him.

Apparently the von Schroeder's had enough money to buy a house that was about as big as their entire department. He could hear Kaiba muttering something along the lines of, "Bragging bastards," when he brushed past him. The rest of the neighborhood was deserted, and Yami had a nasty feeling this family had shut itself out from everyone.

There was a short woman sitting on the doorstep, clutching an expensive looking phone in her hand. She had long brown hair, which was pulled back into a messy bun, and was wearing a white summer dress, covered in blood patches. Her brown eyes were staring at the ground; they were full of grief and horror at the same time.

Clearing his throat, Yami followed Kaiba, and then he suddenly realized he had forgotten his notebook back at the department. Oops.

"Ma'am? Are you Chisako von Schroeder?" Kaiba asked when they were standing in front of her. Probably unable to speak, she nodded and the corners of her lips trembled. Now that they were closer, Yami could see that there was also blood sticking to her clammy hands and that she had freckles on her cheeks, just like her son.

"We're from the Criminal Investigation Bureau," Kaiba said, tapping the logo that was imprinted on his jacket. "I'm Seto Kaiba, investigator, specialized in homicide and this is Yami Tanaka, police officer. You called us and said you witnessed a murder so we came here to ask you some questions and examine the body." Both he and Yami bowed politely and waited for her to respond.

The woman was so shocked still she just stared up at Kaiba, appearing to be looking for answers on his face. Her lips moved slightly, her upper lip going up and down as if she was trying to speak, but she couldn't. Yami felt a sense of guilt; she had just watched her own son kill her husband, the love of her life. And now her son had run away as well. She had lost everything in just one day.

She kept looking at him, a few leftover tears streaming down her cheeks. A small choking sound came out and she continued to stare at the ground. Yami's eyes softened, fighting the urge to sit down next to her and comfort her.

"Ma'am, I—"

Chisako let out a small whine through her trembling lips and pointed behind her with her shaking index finger.

Both agents followed her finger and stared at the front door, which was still open. Kaiba was about to open his mouth again, but Yami gave him a rough push towards the front door, whispering something in his ear. His boss grumbled and entered the house, shoving Yami's hand off his back.

Yami took a deep breath and knelt down in front of Chisako, fishing out his personal handkerchief and laid it in her lap. She slowly reached for it and tried to unfold it, but her hands were shaking so badly that she failed miserably.

"I'm very sorry for what happened," Yami uttered softly, grabbing the handkerchief and unfolding it for her. "It's very good that you called because we can help you."

Chisako opened his mouth again, a few more tears leaking out of her bloodshot eyes, obviously trying to speak.

"You can just nod and shake your head to answer my questions. I understand this must be very hard," Yami said gently, feeling overpowered by the situation. He had always been pretty good with people, but actually comforting them in these kinds of situations was something he had yet to learn.

"… Do you have any idea where your son might have gone?"

She shook her head, clutching the piece of cloth Yami had given her. "No…" she croaked out, her voice barely audible.

Yami smiled kindly, glad she found her voice again. "Which way did he go?"

Chisako made a small noise and pointed to her right and Yami looked at said direction. There was just grass, a few bushes and trees here and there, but there were some other houses in the distance.

"I'll be right back."

If the murders _were _linked, he might be able to find the connections. Maybe he could find something that belonged to Leon, or the weapon he had used to kill his father. Yami started walking towards the other houses, keeping his eyes on the ground, in case he would find anything out of the ordinary.

He probably should have asked her some more questions, but he could always do that afterwards. That, and Kaiba would probably be very pissed if he walked out of the house now and saw that Yami had left Chisako behind. Slowing his pace a bit, he noticed small footprints in the mud. They were not that big, so they could be Leon's.

Wailing sirens echoed in the distance and Yami looked up, squinting. The others were probably on their way and going to evacuate the place so he had to hurry. He picked up the pace again, following the footprints until he reached a few trees. The footprints had stopped and Yami sighed.

"Leon?" he tried, feeling rather stupid. No response and no startled gasp, just like he expected.

He ran a hand through his bangs and looked around the trees, hoping that he would find something useful.

"Something like that," he muttered to himself, picking up a bloody wrench laying next to one of the trees. Even through the gloves he could feel that the object was still a bit warm, indicating that someone had been holding it not too long ago. And there was something else sticking to the wrench as well.

"_Damn._" Yami studied the bronze wrench some more, holding it closer to his eyes. If he was not mistaken, that kid had beaten his father to death because there were pieces of brain tissue sticking to the sharper parts. The awful smell of blood and skin was more than enough to answer his question.

Next to wrench lay a shoe, which he picked up as well. Hopefully Chisako will recognize the shoe as her son's and maybe the wrench as well. Since the footprints had stopped, Yami was staring at a dead end.

It was just like the first murder; Rebecca had run away, some of her possessions were left behind, but she had disappeared. Yami sucked in his lower lip, gnawing on the soft flesh, trying to think. They should send a team to look for Leon (another team was already looking for Rebecca), but Yami had this nagging feeling that they would not be able to find him.

The sirens were now so close that Yami was pretty sure the others were at the house now. Turning around, he saw that there were a couple of men talking to Chisako, trying to reason with her, while others were examining the outside of the house.

Kaiba walked out of the house, holding a plastic bag in his hand (probably some evidence he found, thought Yami) and looked around him. Yami figured he had to hurry back so he quickly clutched the two items to his chest and ran back.

His boss was still looking around like a child who had lost their mom, and Yami called out, "I'm here! I found something!" Kaiba stopped looking around and their eyes met; Yami slowed down and decided to jog the last bit.

"Congrats, that's your _job_," Kaiba said, obviously not impressed. He looked down at him as Yami finally came to a stop in front of the stairs. Chisako had been taken to the side of the house to answer the others' questions. "What'd you find?"

"The wrench the guy was beaten with and the kid's shoe, I think." Yami held up both of his findings for Kaiba to see and smiled sheepishly. "What about you?"

"Well, half of the guy's brain was smacked out his head and he was probably dead before he hit the floor. Other than that, I looked around Leon's room and, just like I thought, it was a complete mess, like Rebecca's. Everything was on the floor, things were torn apart, etcetera," Kaiba stated simply. "Did you find the kid?"

"No, I followed his footprints and they just… stopped at a certain point and that's when I found his shoe and the wrench. Right next to each other," the other replied.

"You're saying he disappeared?"

"That's what it looked like…" Yami muttered, feeling the heat rushing to his face. He should have tried harder; he didn't even check if Leon had climbed one of the trees, or something.

Kaiba glared at him for a good ten seconds before he rolled his eyes and made a weird gesture with his free hand. "Go check inside to see if you can find anything else. I'll go look if the kid's still around somewhere. He couldn't have gotten that far. If I can't find him, we'll get help."

Yami cleared his throat, rubbing at his red nose when he entered the house. The living room smelled like blood, just like the wrench, and from the corner of his eyes, he could see the other colleagues heaving the body into a huge black sack. A huge puddle of blood was in the middle of the room, causing Yami to scrunch up his nose.

It was such a nice place, elegantly decorated, just like a typical classical household, except for the blood patches on the white walls and the knocked over furniture.

Carefully stepping over the blood, Yami went upstairs, trying to look sharp. Even though he should be used to these kinds of things, he had to admit that it was a lot harder to look at in real life than in some kind of crappy horror movie.

He was not exactly sure what he was looking for; if Kaiba had already examined the place so surely there would not be anything else.

Examining Leon's room was exactly like examining Rebecca's room. It looked like he had been in such a bad mood that Leon had thrown everything on the ground, things had been torn to shreds, but what hit Yami right in the gut was the fact that a photo of Chisako, Leon and, Yami guessed, Leon's father had been ripped in two. The three of them were laughing happily and looked like any other ordinary family; there was nothing wrong with the picture at all.

Yami reached for the broken frame and wiped away the loose pieces of glass. Small droplets of blood coated the glass, so he guessed that Leon had punched the glass himself.

Maybe they had had a big fight, but then again, you would really have to piss off your son in order for him to kill his own father. With a small sigh, Yami laid the photo back on the ground and was about to look for something else, but something caught his eye. A large purple piece of paper had been under the photo and Yami recognized it immediately.

Another ticket to the Yugi Mutou show. Frowning slightly, Yami reached for it and as the tips of his fingertips touched the corner of the ticket, he felt a sharp pain shooting through his arm.

In a flash, he saw himself tied in a chair in an unknown spare room. No one else was there, just him, gagged and beaten. There were several wounds on his face, including one dangerously close to his temple, which had knocked him out. His gun, handcuffs, bag and everything else were so close to the chair, but not close enough for him to be able to reach for them.

Someone appeared behind him, wrapping Yami's very own tie around his neck. A muffled scream echoed through the room, followed by gagging noises and desperate pleas for mercy. After his head was pulled back and his neck was stretched as far as it possibly could, a low voice whispered, "_Stay out of it_."

And suddenly, he was back in Leon's room again, as if nothing had happened. Yami quickly reached for his neck, letting out a small breath when he felt nothing but the sweaty skin beneath his fingers.

The sound of heavy boots racing up the stairs yanked him out of his shock and he turned around to see one of his other colleagues: Ryuuji Otogi. The lieutenant had pulled out his gun and was checking the room for any signs of danger. His emerald eyes were scanning the area carefully, his body ready to pounce if needed.

"…What are you doing?" Yami said, semi-amused.

Otogi turned to him, his green eyes staring at him in horror. Usually he looked pretty relaxed because he always had everything under control so Yami felt utterly stupid. "Are you okay?"

He nodded and rubbed at the back of his neck, faking a smile. "Yeah, why shouldn't I be?" His voice was surprisingly calm.

Otogi raised an eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest. "You were screaming so loudly that I could have sworn you were being eaten alive."

Awkwardly shifting his weight to one foot to the other, Yami tried to come up with a good excuse. The fact that he had been _screaming _was truly freaking him out, but he was absolutely sure that if he was going to tell Otogi what he had seen, he wouldn't be taken seriously.

"I probably should have mentioned that I have um… arachnophobia," he continued to lie, feeling very hot. He could hear Otogi snort and looked up to meet his hardened gaze.

"That's it? That's why you screaming like some— okay." Otogi let out an non-amused chuckle. "Next time, give us a warning, will you? The others have already called the department for help and now I'm going to have to call them back to tell them that you freaked out because you saw a fucking _spider_."

"Arachnophobia is a very serious—"

"Yeah, whatever, I don't have time for your issues. I'm gonna get back to work and please," Otogi glared daggers at him. "don't start screaming again, or I will give you a real reason to scream. And not in a good way."

He stomped off and Yami casually coughed to conceal his laughter. Even if he had to say so himself, he thought he had handled that pretty well. But now that Otogi was gone, he was left alone with his thoughts again and he felt a shiver running down his spine.

There was another thing that connected these two murders and—

"_TANAKA!_"

Yami's left eye twitched.

He left the room and looked around the corner to see Kaiba running up the stairs. "Get your ass to the car, we have to get back to the department. Someone broke into the office."

"Wait, what—"

But before he could utter a response, Kaiba grabbed his tie once again and dragged him downstairs.

* * *

**Author's note: **A few weeks ago, I was ready to go to sleep and saw this creepyass spider crawling towards my bed and I wanted to scream so bad bECAUSE IT WAS THE SIZE OF THE SUN. So, Yami's excuse was slightly inspired by me. xD

You _will _get some answers next chapter. I promise! I shall try my best to beat this stupid writer's block and also update _Heavenly Hell _because damn I haven't updated that fic in a while.

See y'all later, lovelies. Thank you for your patience and please leave a review~. x3


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: **HI. Did ya miss me? Okay, no but seriously.

You will not believe how hard it was to write this chapter. Writer's block was seriously killing me because every time I opened this file, I just stared at it and nothing happened. BUT A FEW DAYS AGO I managed to write two sentences and after that my inspiration was back! Well, kinda. Sort of.

Soooo yeah. Thanks for all the reviews and for your patience! Hope this chapter was worth the wait. x3

**Warning:** Some more violence in this chapter with slight gore.

* * *

"So you're saying we've got no lead on this intruder? _None whatsoever?_"

About ten people were standing in the video control room, including Kaiba, Yami and Mai. They had watched the video to find out who broke into their office, but the thief had localized all the cameras and put purple post-its on them to prevent anyone from seeing their face.

Specialists had searched the place to find any other traces, or to find out what was missing exactly, but the odd thing was that nothing seemed to be missing. Everything was left untouched and there were no signs of violence.

The security guards stated that they had been too late to find him after they found out someone was messing with the cameras.

Kaiba banged his fist on the table when no one answered. One of the guards shot him a death glare. His light lilac colored eyes glared at him through the blond eyelashes. "I know we failed and that you're pissed. Looks like we're dealing with someone who knows what they're doing and you know damn well that cases like these are hard to deal with."

"And you're absolutely sure that their face didn't appear for a split second? Just a glance of their hand pasting the post-it?" Kaiba pressed, finally calming down.

"By all means, play the tape again if you don't believe us." The guard raised his hands in mock defense and nodded to the control panel.

A silence fell. Yami tried to swallow, but his mouth was too dry. The tension in the room was so thick that he could probably cut it with his pocketknife. He could feel Kaiba's body temperature rising and felt a bead of sweat trickling down his pale neck.

Mai was about to speak up, because, like Yami, she could feel that this was going to escalate very quickly, but Kaiba beat her to it.

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood, Malik. Otherwise I would've taken the damn tape and shoved it up your ass," he said with the creepiest cynical smile Yami had ever seen. "You can make it up to me by re-watching all of those tapes at least ten times until you're one hundred percent sure it's a male or female hand. That way you're at least a bit useful. And if you do find out, give one of these people here a call. Not me, because I really don't want to see your face for the next few weeks."

The guard watched him leave the room, looking guilty and scared at the same time. Yami looked at his feet for a few seconds before he followed Kaiba to the hallway, where his boss was reading someone else's report of Hayate's murder.

"That was kinda uncalled for. It's not their fault that thief, or whatever he or she is—"

"Look," Kaiba turned around, pinning him with his glare. "I'm not in the mood for this. We've got two murders on our asses, two in one day, plus someone broke into our department. I've got enough to deal with already and I don't have time to deal with crappy guards who aren't good at their jobs. Malik's an ass and needs to keep his lovely comments to himself. He's lucky that I didn't fire him."

Deciding that it was best not to go against Kaiba's wishes, Yami slowly nodded and sighed through his nose.

Kaiba brushed past him to his private office and Yami walked back to the autopsy room, where he had left his notebook. When he entered the room, he walked over to the sink right away to reach for his notebook; only to find out it had been shoved aside so that several pages had tears in them.

Water droplets were sticking to the silver counter, a wet washcloth lay right next to the crane, obviously used in a hurry and on top of that, a very thin black thread was wrapped around one of the cupboards' handles.

Yami stared at everything, completely dumbfounded. This was definitely not his doing since everyone in the department is required to clean up their own mess because it is important nothing gets lost. He looked around just in case there was anything else out of place, but the rest of the room appeared to be the same.

Carefully grabbing the black thread, he held it up to the light and squinted. It was not human hair, nor animal hair, so it had to belong to a piece of clothing. He grabbed a small napkin, placed the thread in it and folded it so it wouldn't fall out. He was not exactly sure if he was going to tell Kaiba, or any other person in their department. They would probably blame him for not cleaning up after himself (even though he really did).

After a few minutes, the entire place was cleaned up again and Yami was about to walk out when he accidentally bumped into someone.

"Sorry," he mumbled quickly and continued to walk, but the person grabbed his arm in a gentle yet firm grip.

"You're Yami Tanaka, right?"

"Apparently I'm famous." Yami turned around with a cheeky grin only to frown in confusion. A tall, quite attractive woman stood in front of him. Her baby blue eyes glittered with warmth, but her lips formed a thin line, making it look like her face was not sure which emotion was in control. Her long black hair was tied back in a low bun, which was brushing against the back of her small neck, and a few strands of thin hair were sticking out.

"I wanted to talk with you," she said, her low voice almost making Yami nervous.

"Why? What'd I do?" he said defensively.

The corner of her mouth twitched slightly. "You panicked while you were on the job and you confessed you had arachnophobia. I'm here to help you."

For a minute, Yami was completely dazed. "… That was, what, 2 hours ago? How'd you know that?"

"News travels fast here. You get used to it after a while."

"Yeah, but— Wait, who are you?" Yami was casually trying to get his arm out of her grip, but she continued to hold on tight. It was rather embarrassing because it almost looked like she was his mother who had caught him stealing cookies from the jar and was about to punish him.

"Ishizu Ishtar, psychologist, specialized in anxiety disorders. I can help you with your phobia so it won't bother you anymore. You do realize that this could cause a lot of problems with your job, right?"

Yami felt his face reddening. He had made up a stupid lie and it was already back to bite him in the ass. He had no idea how he was going to get himself out of this one, especially since he was facing a _psychologist _who was probably a master in reading people and their body language. Licking his dry lips, he put on an awkward smile and said, "'Twas nothing. I can control myself just fine."

"Then why'd you scream?"

"… I was unprepared."

Ishizu raised an elegant eyebrow, obviously not buying a word of what he was saying. With an annoyed sigh, Yami managed to tug his arm back and quickly took a step back in case she would try to grab him again.

"Look, I don't have arachnophobia—"

"So, you lied."

She folded her arms over her chest and blinked dryly, as if she was not surprised at all. It took a few seconds for Yami to fully comprehend what was going on. He narrowed his eyes to slits, studying her carefully. The other didn't flinch under his gaze, _au contraire, _she looked rather pleased.

"I expect you in my office next Friday, 9:00 am sharp. You and I are going to have a nice, long chat."

"No, we're not. There's nothing to talk about."

She stopped right away, not turning around or showing any signs of irritation. "I think we have plenty to talk about. If you don't show up, I'll have a word with Kaiba. He, too, thinks it's important you're in control of your own body and mind. Worst case scenario," she turned around and pinned him with a cold glare. "I'll drag you to my office myself. Stop acting like a child and do as you're told."

* * *

_Shinagawa, Japan  
September 8__th__, day 29, 01:57 pm _

Luckily, it was Yami's day off. It gave him time to think about everything that had happened in the past 24 hours. It had felt like an _entire week_.

His roommate, Anzu, was seeing her parents at the moment so when he got home, he was faced with an empty apartment. There was a small note taped to the fridge which said,

"_Hey,  
I'll be at my parents for the next few days. Sorry, mom's been calling me for ages and I couldn't say no this time. I won't be long, just a couple of days. I already went to the grocery store, because I know how time-consuming your job is, and got you enough food for the rest of the week. You can thank me by keeping the living room clean. _

_Later! _

_Anzu" _

The note made Yami smile. But he couldn't help but feel bad for not having anyone to talk to for a bit.

He had decided to visit his dad and his little sister, Mana. It had been three weeks and he was pretty sure Mana was driving his dad insane. The thought made him laugh; even though she was sixteen, she could still act like a child sometimes. Thinking about how many times she had told him she wanted to have memories of their mother made his heart beat faster. All he could do was tell her about his own memories, which were not that great since he had only known her for six years of his life.

Shaking his head, he forced himself to focus on happy thoughts. Then again, he had pushed these thoughts away so many times that he was pretty sure his head was going to explode one day, but he still had time.

"Ow!" Someone had bumped into him quite hard and because of his trained reflexes he instantly reached for his gun. "What's— Oh, it's you. Sorry, Mutou-san."

Sugoroku Mutou looked up at him, looking more disturbed than ever. Yami had known this man his entire life; he had to watch out for him and his sister all the time when they were younger since his father—

He cleared his throat, instantly bowed and wanted to apologize but the middle-aged man quickly grabbed his shoulders.

"Thank god I ran into you, Yami. I was just on my way to the police station."

"What, why?"

They exchanged a few looks before Sugoroku slowly looked over his shoulder. Yami followed his gaze and his eyes fell on his old home, which made his eyes widen.

"What's going on?" he asked in a forced calm voice.

"I-It's Mana, son, I think something's terribly wrong."

The calmness in his voice disappeared right away and he wriggled out of the other's grip. Without saying another word, he started running towards the small house. It looked peaceful as usual, except for the fact that the front door was open and with each step closer, the noises got louder.

Glasses shattering, yelling, shrieking, furniture being knocked over… Yami's breathing was getting out of control and not just because he was running faster than ever. The handcuffs were smacking painfully against his thigh but the only thing he could think of was getting into that house as soon as possible.

Since the front door was still open, he ran into the house right away and looked around frantically. "Mana? Dad?"

A terribly loud shriek filled his ears and he practically flew to the living room. The sight was something that would haunt Yami for the rest of his life; Mana was standing in front of his father, Aknamkanon, with a pair of scissors in her hand. His baby sister was planning on killing their very own flesh and blood.

She was breathing heavily, staring at her brother with wide eyes. Her emerald orbs looking absolutely horrified but also angered. "What the hell are _you _doing here?" she spat.

Yami's feet were nailed to the floor. His mouth was slightly open, his dry eyes were shifting between his two family members constantly, drinking in all the details. Mana's brown hair was completely messed up; it was tied up in a messy ponytail but the elastic band was barely keeping her thick hair together. Loose brown strands were sticking to her sweaty face, which was also covered in smeared make-up.

She had been crying heavily and it scared Yami to death.

"Yami, you've got to—"

"_Shut up!"_ Mana screamed, pointing the scissors at their father threateningly. Her voice broke and she took a step closer to him. Yami didn't think twice and leaped at her, wrapping his arms around her waist to keep her in place. "Let go! I have to do this!"

"Mana, what are you doing?" Yami yelled at her, tightening his grip because she was squirming so much. Her arms were flailing around and letting the scissors getting dangerously close to Yami's body.

"If I kill him the pain will stop!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Let. _Go!"_

Adrenaline was pumping through his veins and making his heart beat unnaturally fast. In less than a second, he had her pinned to the floor, pulled her arms behind her back and cuffed them together. The scissors slipped out of her grip and he kicked them to the corner of the room right away.

"Get the scissors," Yami panted to his father, straddling his sister's waist. She was screaming uncontrollably as he kept her pinned to the floor with his weight. Her screaming slowly turned into loud sobbing and Yami winced in pain when she started kicking his back with her heels.

Aknamkanon came back with the scissors and looked down at his children with an incredulous look on his face.

"Mana, please calm down—"

"No!"

Before Yami could stop her, she kicked him off of her back with such force that the air was knocked out of him and she jumped to her feet. Yami landed on his chest, making him grunt in pain and curl up a bit. Mana angrily slammed her foot onto his lower back and he heard an awful _crack._

A loud, painful scream escaped from his lips as he was now pretty sure he could not stand properly anymore.

"Keep your nose out of other people's business, asshole," she growled, pressing her foot deeper into his flesh, making him moan in pain. Mana stepped off of him and he could hear Aknamkanon falling to his feet with a yelp and he was about to get up, but the pain in his lower back was too overwhelming.

"I don't need those stupid scissors, anyway."

"Don't do it!" Yami exclaimed. All he could do was stare at the wooden floor and try to get to his feet, but it was useless. Aknamkanon wailed in pain and Yami could only guess Mana was kicking his head repeatedly. He knew that it would only take a few blows and he was done for. Tears were welling up in his eyes as he listened to his father's jaw breaking and Mana's continuous sobbing.

It went on and on, until Mana placed both of her feet on the floor with a content sigh.

It was over. Their father was dead and he hadn't done anything to stop it. Almost choking on his saliva, he let his head fall on the floor, completely defeated. One single tear leaked out of his left eye and crawled down his cheek until it hit the floor. Mana remained silent, just like him. Yami stayed silent because all the words he knew, were just gone; it was as if his entire vocabulary had disappeared.

"Wait…" His ears perked up at the change of tone in Mana's voice. "O-oh my god… What-what i-is this? Why a-am I…? Oh, no… No… No!"

Yami painfully managed to look over his shoulder and saw his sister staring at Aknamkanon's mutilated face with complete and utter shock. Several teeth were sticking to the tip of her shoe, making Yami almost gag.

Police sirens were wailing in the distance; Sugoroku probably went to the police station and they were going to walk in any minute and see them in this position. On one hand, Yami wanted nothing more than hand Mana over to them but on the other hand he wanted her to run away and not look back.

Said person looked down at him, fresh tears rolling down her tears. Small droplets of blood, mixed with salty tears were sticking to her sweaty cheeks. Her eyes were filled with horror and sorrow at the same time, making Yami feel even sicker. He didn't know what to think anymore.

"W-what is going on?" she whispered, her voice hoarse from all the sobbing and screaming. It was so quiet and broken that you could have mistaken it for a blow of the wind.

The cars were getting closer and Mana looked up in panic, her puffy eyes darting around the room. Then, she noticed her hands were still cuffed together and she looked back down at her brother again, quietly begging for an answer. Even after all those years of living together and always knowing the answer to give her when she felt hopeless, Yami could not help her. After witnessing what he just saw, he didn't even know the person that was standing in front of him and yet, he felt sorry for her.

More hot tears were burning behind his eyes, threatening to escape from his eyes. He shook his head and before he could blink, Mana was running towards the back door without even looking back. With a small grunt, she pushed it open with her shoulder and ran away.

With a painful groan, Yami laid his head back on the floor. Raising his fist high up in the air, he punched the wood quite hard. It was the only thing he could do since he couldn't even talk, move, or anything for that matter. This couldn't be real. It just _couldn't_. This was beyond sick and incomprehensible.

The screeching of the cars made his eyes dart up to the ceiling again, completely on red alert. He would yell, but words were still impossible to form and it hurt too much to move his diaphragm. Instead of yelling, a soft wheezing sound came out of his mouth, which hurt and made him moan in pain.

"Tanaka!"

The wood vibrated beneath him as policemen came running into the living room. Said room echoed with heavy footsteps and Yami shut his eyes, wanting to block it all out.

"Man down! We need help here!" It was Kaiba's voice and it was awfully close. Yami felt a warm hand on his back and he instantly flinched. More men came running into the room and he even heard Mai's voice in the distance, yelling commands. "Tanaka! Can you hear me?"

More running, more commands, more shouting. "You, check the house."

"Check that man's pulse, I think there's a chance he might still be alive. You there, call an ambulance. Go! _Now!"_ a voice called out.

His lips separated but no sound came out except for a small wheeze. The hand moved to his shoulder and shook it gently. Another wheeze made its way past Yami's lips.

"Oi, Tanaka! You're not dead, use words."

"—Severe damage to the head, possible internal wounds, no pulse."

"House is clear!"

"Did you check the garden?"

"Yes, ma'am. Only found a pair of our own handcuffs."

Those words were enough to snap Yami out of it. Mana was gone. His eyes flew open and he saw Kaiba's face hovering over his. The usual ice-cold eyes were now gentle and reassuring, even though there was still that hint of alertness. "Yami? Can you tell me what happened?"

"'m not the victim 'ere, dun' treat me like one…" Yami managed to croak out, even though he wasn't exactly sure how coherent he sounded. "Now, move."

Ignoring the burning pain in his lower back, he pushed himself up, slowly walked towards the front door where Mai was still standing with her arms crossed. His captain asked him a question, but Yami walked past her, keeping his eyes focused on the tree that was standing a few feet away.

His feet carried him to the bushes surrounding the tree and when they stopped, Yami took a deep breath, closed his eyes and threw up.

* * *

This was so utterly ridiculous that Yami would have laughed if it hadn't been for this huge black hole in his body. It ached beyond measure and it was probably not going to stop until he would find out what drove Mana to do this. She would have called if this had gotten out of hand. He knew their father had lost a great amount of his personality after his wife died, but it couldn't have gotten _that_ far.

The handcuffs jingled when Yami sat up straight in his seat. The sound of those stupid things around his wrists made him roll his eyes. Of course he was a suspect because he was found at the scene of the crime, but seeing he was lying on the floor, wounded and not capable of moving, someone with more than one brain cell would be able to figure out that he couldn't have done it.

They had brought him to the interrogation room and if he was going to be honest with himself, the room looked a lot more intimidating from this angle. The other side of the table, with his hands cuffed to it, facing the door, seeing the water cooler standing in the corner with another chair next to it for observers and finally, the small pile with his files.

He could still taste the sourness and feel his throat burning and his body begging for some fluid. The water in the bottle bubbled teasingly, making Yami throw his head back so he wouldn't get tempted to lose his patience.

It had been about thirty minutes and from experience, he knew this was just a way of testing him. To see if he would lose his mind, start babbling or shouting, get nervous, maybe even go insane; anything a real murderer would do as soon as he was arrested.

A small camera was casually hanging in the above the door, monitoring every move and every word. Yami licked his dry lips, fighting the urge to kick the chair he was sitting on, get himself out of those stupid handcuffs and walk out of the room. But he was almost one-hundred percent sure that that's what they, especially Kaiba, would want him to do.

Fight, become violent, get angry… A voice in his head told him he had every right to do so, but he remained calm and continued to count the seconds in his head.

Minutes passed and he finally opened his eyes again, feeling his cracked lips curling into a smile. The situation was so ironic that it was actually hilarious.

"Okay, we're gonna keep it very simple and clean," Kaiba's voice said. Yami's head snapped to the door where his boss was standing. The door closed, Kaiba walked over to the table, took a seat and leaned toward him. "Just tell me what happened and we can get this over with."

Yami raised an eyebrow and raised his hands so the metal would clink. "Are you gonna let me go?"

"No."

Snorting, Yami placed his hands back on the table and leaned back in his chair as far as the handcuffs would allow him. "Whatever you say, boss," he said, not even trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

"This might be a joke to you, but to me it's as serious as a heart attack."

"And not to me?"

"Obviously not, since that's the first thing you ask."

"Fine, can you get some water, then? Since I'm still chained to the table like a dog."

Kaiba narrowed his eyes, but didn't show any signs of losing his temper. "Answer my questions and maybe I will get you some water."

The only that Yami hadn't thought about was what he was going to say. "Yeah, boss, my sister, my own flesh and blood, almost knocked me out and beat my dad to death. Then you guys found us and I have no idea where she is now. Sorry."

The smartest thing to do was just tell his part of the story and not leave out any details. "Around two I was on my way to my old home in Shinagawa and when I was almost there, I ran into Sugoroku Mutou who told me he was on his way to the police station because he thought there was something wrong at my house. When I got there, I saw… my sister, Mana, standing in front of my father with a pair of scissors in her hand. Now the weird thing was that…"

A silence fell. Now that he remembered what she said, he realized that it didn't make any sense whatsoever. His boss moved a bit in his chair and quietly said, "What?"

"She said something about pain… that if she killed him the pain would stop…?" Yami blinked and noticed how dumb it sounded. However, Kaiba didn't say anything and simply motioned for him to continue. "I fought her, pinned her to the floor, managed to cuff her hands behind her back and kick the scissors away, but she threw me off of her. She was so aggressive that it honestly scared me because she's usually this bubbly and cheery girl that wouldn't hurt a fly."

"_She threw you_ _off of her?_ How the hell did she do that? You are a _trained _police officer. You're supposed to be able to pin her to the floor within less than ten seconds without even breaking a sweat."

"She wasn't herself," Yami mumbled, feeling even more stupid now because Kaiba had pointed that out.

"That's not an excuse."

"They don't train you for situations like these. How would you react if you saw your sibling threatening to murder your only parent?" Yami snapped, his fingers curling into a fist to the point where his short nails were digging into the skin. "What, I should've knocked her out? Put a bullet in her leg? She's my sister! A sixteen-year-old girl who still thinks the world is full of rainbows and puppies and calls her father "Daddy"."

The more he talked about, the less sense it made. Another silence followed after that sentence. The two stared at each other, Yami's hands were shaking with uncontrollable rage and Kaiba was calmly scanning his face with his eyes.

"She's a teenager?"

It took a minute before Yami slowly started shaking his head. "Don't go there."

"Well, it's all there, isn't it?" Kaiba got up from his chair, his eyes getting that familiar sparkle again. "She did kill him, right?"

"She crushed my tailbone with her heel after that so that I couldn't get up. Then, she kicked my dad to death, got all disoriented and ran away through the back door."

"Aha," Kaiba brushed it off, he was obviously more interested in his own theory about this. "This is good. Really good… Aren't you seeing a pattern here?"

"She would never be part of this. I told you she was disoriented—"

"That doesn't matter!" Kaiba barked at him. "These kids, they… must have formed a club of some sorts. Shizuka said she heard all this clattering of the pans in Rebecca's kitchen, which would indicate that Rebecca was upset. When Rebecca fled, she stared at her for a couple of seconds before disappearing into the night. Chisako told us that Leon was not himself and was crying the whole time he hit his father with that wrench and that he ran away with tears in his eyes. And now you're telling me—"

"You couldn't find my sister, could you?"

Yami's darted up to the other's, demanding an answer. If there was truly a pattern, then Mana was gone. His hands were still shaking slightly but this time it was out of fear and sorrow.

"No, Yami. I'm sorry. The only thing we found were the handcuffs, which had your and her fingerprints on it. We asked around but unfortunately no one saw her running away. My team's already on it so you don't have anything to worry about. If there really is some club, those kids will come around. Apparently their plan is to kill someone dear to them, leave an object behind and disappear. So, they _want _to leave a track. They _want _us to find them."

"Then how would you explain the fact that they were all so upset, according to the witnesses?"

"You don't just kill a loved one like that," Kaiba said, snapping his fingers to emphasize his last word. "Maybe… Maybe they're following someone's orders and they actually don't want to do it so they get upset and run away. And I think, that those orders include leaving an object behind so we can identify them. They're young and easy to manipulate or blackmail."

Yami leaned towards his hands so he could place his cheek in one of them. This was a lot to take in and he was close to his breaking point. He would never believe Mana would be capable of killing someone, let alone on someone else's orders.

"She was so scared," he mumbled to no one in particular. "and looked at me like I had to give her an answer, but I couldn't give her one."

"Give me your hands," Kaiba said, not really paying attention to him. He gently grabbed Yami's wrists and unlocked him. "We have that old man as a witness of Mana tearing up the house and you, a police officer, witnessing the murder itself. There are no wounds on your hands or your arms, nor do you have any blood splatters on you. We will have your tailbone checked to see if you're also telling the truth about that and if you are, then there's about enough evidence that you're innocent. And I believe you, which is the most important part."

Yami cracked a smile at the small joke. "Yeah."

"Here, I'll help you up." He felt one of Kaiba's hands on his shoulder and the other one between his shoulder blades to steady his back.

* * *

**Author's note:** … Drama. I felt so sorry for Yami but they're getting closer and closer now. So sorry for the long wait. *pouts*

Please leave a review on your way out~!


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: ***forever suffering from writer's block* But I updated pretty fast this time! Sort of. I'm also working on Heavenly Hell, and it should be done within the next few days. At least I hope so. Gotta stay positive, think positive and… be positive?

Thanks for all the reviews! I'm so glad people like this story. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside 33

**Warning: **Blood, _slight mention_ of torture, kinda, and just general heavy stuff.

* * *

_Tokyo, Japan  
September 9__th__, day 30, 08:52 am_

Lying on a table, feeling gentle hands wandering all over his back while being shirtless _and _having part of his backside exposed was _not _how Yami had hoped the examination would be. A very attractive woman was leaning over him, giving him instructions such as, "Lie on your side, please. Could you move your leg upwards for me? Sit up straight like you normally would."

Her hands did all sorts of weird movements and Yami could hear small _pops_ in his spine, as if she was re-organizing everything. She had even drawn small patterns with a blue pen on his back to mark where the pain was and where things needed to be fixed.

He carefully looked up at her, seeing her baby-blue eyes completely focusing on his back. Kisara Sato was one of the doctors in their department; a chiropractic who was now _really_ taking her time to fix his back, or tailbone, or whatever.

All Yami could think about was the fact that his boxers had been pulled down his hips and that she was a woman.

With one final _pop _she let out a content sigh and raised her hands so only her fingertips were touching his shoulder blades.

"Okay. I have good news and bad news," Kisara said in her quiet voice. She walked around him and sat down on the edge of her desk. Her pale, white uniform made her light white hair appear even whiter and gave Yami the feeling he was staring at fresh snow in the winter. A small smile appeared on her round face and she motioned for him to sit up again.

"… What's the bad news?" Yami said, slowly moving up since he was still in some pain.

Kisara pressed her lips together before she spoke. "The bad news is that you're gonna be in a lot of pain for the next few days, a week tops," she said with an apologizing smile. "One of the small bones in your lower back area shifted and I had to put it back into place so that's why you felt me rearranging your bones here and there. The problem is, is that the bone was a bit hard to move, so I'm assuming it has been like that for several months, maybe even years. Did you experience any back pains before this incident?"

It was so much more than an "incident", Yami wanted to snap, but he remained calm and tried keep his poker face. She probably must have seen the scar on his lower back.

It triggered a memory of him hitting a bookcase with his back and falling to the ground afterwards, which caused him a lot of pain. It hadn't been that bad, but he did remember that he couldn't walk properly for a couple of days after it had happened. This had happened approximately fourteen years ago, around the time when—

"Tanaka-san?" Kisara's voice yanked him back to reality and he cleared his throat. There was no way he could deny it, anyway.

"Yeah, about fourteen years ago. I hit a bookcase with my back and fell right onto my tailbone afterwards."

She nodded and brushed her bangs out of her face. "That explains it. Well, this incident did cause a great amount of damage and you will not be able to bent down, work out or do your job for a couple of days. I want you to take it easy because the bone has been out of its place for a very long time and if you force yourself back into working too soon, it could shift back again because it's "used" to being in that place."

Yami stared at her, quite pissed. "Then what the hell is the good news?"

"That it's not broken. 'Cause then you wouldn't be able to move _at all._ You would have to lie in bed for about eight weeks and pee in a cup."

Apparently that comment was supposed to make him feel better, but all it did was make him want to punch the living daylights out of her. She wrote a few things down on a clipboard and motioned for him to put his clothes back on.

"We're done…?" Yami asked hesitantly, casually pulling up his boxers up a little higher than necessary. He grabbed his clothes and started putting them back on.

Kisara looked back up at him and smiled. "We're done. Though, I'm giving you some exercises to do for your back. I want you to do these at least once a day, maybe twice if your back starts hurting again. Keep it up for two weeks and you should be just fine. If you get the feeling that the bone's shifted back into the wrong place, just let me know."

She walked up to him and gave him a piece of paper with instructions for the exercises on it.

A small knock on the door drew their attention and both adults turned around to see Mai standing in the doorway with a sincere smile on her elegant face. "Fixed him?"

"Oh, yes. It turned out something was already wrong and the incident made it a tad bit worse. He'll be fine in a couple of days," Kisara said, waving it off with a very polite smile.

"And your answer to the question I asked you before we came in here?"

Clicking her tongue, Kisara straightened up and let her smile fade away. "There is absolutely no way that he could've done it, seeing that the damage was great enough to keep him from walking. He couldn't have possibly kicked someone because his back would not have allowed that. Unless he really pushed himself, then there's a chance he could've killed his father. But I think he's innocent."

Yami sighed through his nose and slowly put on his shirt to avoid eye contact.

Kisara cleared her throat and walked past Mai, still holding her clipboard. "If you need me, I'll be in my office to write the report. Good day." She bowed quickly and left, her long white hair fluttering behind her.

An awful silence fell between the two adults. Yami was merely dressed in his boxers and his shirt, which was not even buttoned up all the way. He carefully got up from the table and quickly shook his head when Mai started walking over to him to help.

"I had to check. It's my—"

"Job, I know," Yami cut in, keeping his voice calm. "Do you mind leaving me alone so I can put my clothes on?"

"Oh, please," Mai walked over to him and jumped on the table with a small huff. "Nothing I haven't seen. Besides, I need to talk to you."

"About what?"

Another silence fell while Yami carefully put his legs into his pants. It hurt like hell, but he was not going let it show because he didn't want her to touch him. He had already swallowed a great amount of his dignity for Kisara and was about to keep that little amount he still had to himself. From the corner of his eye, he saw Mai observing the way he was clumsily pulling his pants up to his waist.

"We found some footprints on your father's face, which matched the ones we found in the garden. We compared the size to the average woman's foot size and concluded they belonged to a female teenager. Someone thought that you had maybe put the footprints there, but since we couldn't find any pair of shoes that were a match, and the fact that they randomly stopped after ten steps, we excluded that theory. They had to belong to someone else; your sister, like you mentioned," Mai quietly explained, her voice so gentle that it almost scared him. "On top of that, we found some marks on your father's body, which match the description of your sister's hands."

Yami was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Every bit of information felt like a dagger in his chest. But Mai continued nonetheless.

"There was no blood on your body, or your clothes and no cloth hidden anywhere. So, there was no way you could've been covered in blood, or that you might have wiped it off with something like a cloth, or changed your clothes, since there was nothing in the washing machine in both that house and your apartment," she said. "We have Sugoroku Mutou to confirm that he saw you a few minutes _after_ your sister had started tearing up the place. And other witnesses state they heard a young woman screaming and crying, just like in your story. However, nobody saw her running away, or disappearing so that still remains a mystery to us."

Biting his lip hard, Yami secured his belt and started buttoning up his shirt. His heart was beating rapidly against his chest and flashbacks were continuously playing in his head.

"In conclusion, you're probably innocent," Mai finished, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "But I do need you to tell me everything you know about your sister and your father. You don't have to do that right now. I want you to go home and rest. If there's anything you need, you know where to find me."

She jumped off the table and walked back to the door. Before she left, she looked over her shoulder and gave him an apologizing smile. "I'm sorry."

Those last two words made the dagger in his chest turn, making him feel nauseous. Mai left, the clicking of her heels echoing in the small hallway until she opened the door on the other side and closed it behind her. Yami finished buttoning up his shirt and let his shaking hands fall across his body.

* * *

Just like Mai had explained, they had been in his apartment. The cupboards in the kitchen had been left open, along with the door to the washroom and the bathroom. Both his and Anzu's room had been checked, since their stuff was all over the place, their beds had been turned inside out and the curtains had almost been ripped out.

Every single hiding place had been checked and Yami felt like he had to give them credit because they didn't miss one spot.

Then, he started laughing quietly. If Anzu got home, she'd probably kill him because he was supposed to keep the living room tidy and clean. It would be absolutely perfect if she walked in right at this moment—

"Yami!" Bursting out laughing because he recognized the voice, Yami turned around and found his panting friend, Anzu, standing in the doorway, staring at him in horror. He was laughing so hard that his ribs started hurting and he was slowly running out of air. The horror on Anzu's face turned into confusion and she hesitantly walked over to him.

"… What?" she mumbled, looking around as she was looking for the joke she thought she had missed. However, Yami continued to snigger helplessly and held Anzu's arm to steady himself because his muscles were growing weak of all the laughter.

"I-I'm sorry…" he breathed, sniffling because tears of mirth were starting to form in his eyes. "It's not that funny." But then he started laughing again.

Anzu's eyes softened and she grabbed his arms, squeezing them tightly. "Yami."

He looked up at her, his lips still curled into a silly grin. He sniggered, "What?"

His friend's grip on him tightened. "I know this is your body's defense mechanism, but I can't talk to you if you're laughing like a deranged lunatic. I need you to take a deep breath and talk to me."

She slowly let go of him, making sure the tips of her fingers stroked his arms as they left. Yami pressed his lips together, trying to calm down but the laughter bubbled up again and he shook his head.

"It's just that," he spluttered between laughter. "you left for a couple of days and the _one thing _you asked me to do just… My sister's obviously gone insane and murdered my father right in front of me and they-they thought _I _did it so they came in here, fucked up our entire apartment and now you're here and… I honestly can't believe I'm still standing on my feet."

Suddenly, the laughter completely faded away and Yami reached for his face. "I mean, all I had to do was prevent him from hurting her. He just lost his mind when mom died and couldn't keep it together, but I was selfish and left. He probably drove her crazy with his depression and suicidal thoughts and… Oh, for fuck's sake—"

He roughly shoved Anzu aside, walked over to the wall and punched it so hard that his hand instantly started bleeding.

"Yami!" The combination of pain in his hand and back were barely reaching his brain. The overwhelming emotions had completely taken over his mind, and the only thing he could think of was punching the wall until he could think straight again. "Stop! Stop, you're gonna break your hand!"

But her voice didn't reach his ears. All he could do was punch the wall over and over again, feeling the warm blood trickling down his hand and wrist. Feeling a different pain, which replaced the pain in his chest that he had so little control over.

"_Yami!"_ Anzu grabbed his arm and kept it between both her own so he couldn't get it back. "Stop. This is _not _your fault. It never was and it never will be. You've been protecting them from day one. You only live a few blocks away so you were still close to them and could keep an eye out. You visited them every once in a while and everything was always fine. Mana told you everything was fine, and your father told you everything was _fine._ I don't know how this happened, but it _wasn't your fault_."

Feeling his pulse steadying, Yami uncurled his fingers and hung his head. At first, Anzu had no intention of letting his arm go, but now that he was calming down, she slowly let go. When she did, he could feel her hands shaking along with his.

"Why are you here?" It came out as a snarl and had Anzu back away from him a little.

"Kaiba called me this morning and told me everything I needed to know. I took the first train so I could see you."

Yami raised his hand again, but this time, he simply placed it on the wall and let his forehead rest against it. Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes and tried to keep calm. He felt Anzu's shaky hand on his back, rubbing soothing circles over it.

His trembling hand shook against his forehead so he pushed it further into the wall, groaning in pain. His skin was raw and bloody, as if someone had simply torn off the first layer like a piece of paper. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, Yami pushed himself off the wall and walked towards the door.

"H-hey, where are you going?"

"Out."

Anzu didn't follow him, nor did she yell at him to come back. They had known each other long enough to know what the other needed, but Yami was taking advantage of said fact. She probably thought he was going to take a walk to clear his head, and instead, he was going to his old place to investigate it himself.

He wasn't even sure what he was going to look for; all he knew was that he wanted to check out Mana's room to see if he had missed something. Anzu was right about everything; he _had _been visiting, checking if they were still doing okay, so it really didn't make any sense that Mana had spontaneously killed their father.

His feet carried him to his old home, seeing that the place had been deserted, except for a few police officers standing in front of the door, talking to each other.

Since he wasn't wearing his uniform, or had his badge, he wasn't sure if they were going to let him in. So he could only hope that they would recognize him, or simply be nice. The latter made Yami roll his eyes because police officers barely made exceptions.

"… told me that he was in pretty bad shape and I can't help but feel sorry for the guy, I mean, we all have those days. But if I were him, I'd probably— Who're you?"

They were talking about him. The police officer that was now staring down at him had kind, honey colored eyes. His nose was covered in a few freckles, which gave him a semi-innocent look, but the look in his eyes told Yami otherwise.

A few blond hairs stuck out from under his blue cap and he inexplicably reminded him of Mai. They both had the same attitude written on their face, which was a mixture between kindred and bitchiness. Mai had proven she could be incredibly nice, but also be an absolute annoying bitch with a big mouth.

Then, Yami looked at his nametag and did his best to keep his jaw from hitting the ground.

It was corporal Katsuya Jounouchi, _Mai's boyfriend._

"That explains it," Yami blurted out and immediately coughed with the hopes he hadn't heard it.

"What?" Jounouchi spoke, an amused smile tugging at his lips.

"Nothing, nothing. It's just… Your girlfriend is my boss. Sort of."

At first, Jounouchi frowned and looked bewildered, before his face broke out in a cheeky grin. Yami instantly felt like he had a chance because Mai had probably told him everything about the situation.

"Hm. Yeah, so you're Yami Tanaka?" A weak smile deliberately replaced the grin. "Mai's told me all about you. But what are you doing here? Thought my girl sent you home to get some rest and take it easy."

"I need to check something."

"Bud, I think it's better if you—"

"I witnessed my sister kicking my father to death and I'm trying to find out why the hell she did that because I can't think of one good reason. So I think it's better if you let me in my own house so I can _try _to find out why. And if you don't, I will not hesitate to throat punch you." The words had flown out of his mouth before he could even stop them.

Both officers looked at each other, blinking a few times.

Jounouchi's eyes softened and he turned his body so it was no longer blocking the front door.

Yami hesitantly brushed past him and muttered a quick "thank you" before he ran upstairs. If he remembered correctly, Mana's room was at the end of the hallway, the door with a poster of her favorite band on it. Said door had been left open and only then did Yami realize he hadn't been in her room since he left.

Yet, he still remembered everything about it. Everything was still the same: from the unmade bed in the right corner, to the random post-its on her closet. A small smile appeared on his face because it reminded him of their childhood.

It looked like they hadn't been in her room yet, since nothing was out of place. Which meant that they either still had to do it, or they didn't believe his story.

Yami walked over to her unmade bed and to his biggest surprise, he saw her diary under the pillow. It was almost too good to be true.

It was none of his business of course; diaries were very private, still, he had to find out what had made Mana do this. He grabbed it, flipped through the pages and took a step back when a small piece of paper fell out and landed in front of him. Blinking, he bent down and instantly groaned.

His back was obviously not very happy that he had done that. So, instead of bending down, he knelt down and used her desk to keep his balance. Now that he finally got a good look at that purple paper, he felt a familiar fear creeping up inside of him.

It was_ another _ticket to that Yugi Mutou show. Either this guy was really popular or he had something to do with the murders. Yami carefully reached out for it, remembering damn well what happened last time but—

There were two very deep wounds in each corner of his mouth, preventing him from talking because it would hurt too much. Someone was standing in front of him with a long black cloak, the hood covering his face so he could only see the other's chin and lips. A sharp jawline indicated that the figure was probably a young man.

"Since you're calling me the bad guy, I should be threatening you with a knife. However, I have absolutely no intention of hurting you," the male said, taking a few steps closer to him. Only then did Yami realize that he couldn't move a single muscle, except wiggle his fingers and his toes. A knife appeared in front of his face and he yelped when a cold hand wrapped itself around his throat.

Because he cried out in pain, the wounds in the corners of his mouth tore the skin and caused several amounts of blood to leak into his mouth. It hurt so much that another groan escaped from his lips, but it only made it worse. The wounds cut deeper into his skin, making him bleed more and more. The pain was so intense that he felt lightheaded already and the disgusting taste of his own blood in his mouth was making him cough and gag.

"I _despise _judgmental people. And I _hate _people who can't keep their noses out of other people's business," the other whispered, their faces so close that he could feel his breath over his wounded lips. "Don't scream, because you will probably bleed to death if you do. Be a good boy and keep your mouth shut."

A loud _thud _woke Yami up from the trance. His knees ached and when he looked down, he noticed he was sitting on them. He instantly reached for his mouth, trembling fingers looking around for the painful wounds, but his fingers only found his soft, uninjured lips.

This was the second time he had had such a horrible vision and he wasn't sure if he was slowly going insane or that someone was trying to send him a message. In both trances, the same person had told him to back off; that person was a guy and he was wearing a long black coat.

Clearing his throat, Yami looked down at the ticket. The illusionist was probably in his mid-twenties, maybe even younger and had an inviting smile on his pale face. There was a large black hat on top of his head, just like the stereotype illusionist, and had a black cloak which reached his ankles. The cloak sent a cold shiver down Yami's spine because it looked a lot like the one he had seen in that vision.

"Yugi Mutou," he breathed, hearing his voice shaking. Stars appeared in front of his eyes and he held his head to keep it from spinning. "No, no…" His body wobbled and before he could get a grip, his eyes rolled back and he fell to the floor.

* * *

The sound of squealing tires and a round of loud cursing woke Yami up from his so-called slumber. Something tight was pressing against his chest and a hand shot out to press him back against a soft chair. Slowly opening his eyes, Yami saw the black dashboard of Kaiba's car and the behind of another car through the window, which was dangerously close to them.

"Wazzgoin' on?" he mumbled, closing his eyes again. For some odd reason, his head was incredibly heavy and he was having trouble keeping his eyes open.

"A moron randomly stopped in the middle of the street and I almost, _almost,_ bumped into him. I would sue his ass, but I don't have time for it," his boss snarled. "You okay? Good thing I secured your seatbelt, otherwise you would have flown through the window and we would have even bigger problems."

"'snot what I mean." Yami did his best to give Kaiba an accusing look, but his eyes were so dry and irritated that it hurt too much to look up at him. Instead, he looked at the steering wheel, trying to glare and failing miserably.

"Don't try to act all tough because you're in no position to do so. I was in your old house, on my way to investigate your sister's room when I found you on the floor, unconscious. I carried you back to my car and here we are."

Upon hearing that Kaiba had carried him to the car, Yami felt his nose reddening. Just thinking about it was embarrassing enough, but to find out it had actually _happened _made him feel like a loser.

"You're a lot heavier than you look," Kaiba said, scrunching up his nose. "Thought you and your 5'4" ass—"

"Okay, you've made your point," Yami quickly brushed him off, feeling more blood rushing to his face. He didn't have to rub it in for god's sake. "Where are we going anyway, back to the office?"

"No. I'm taking you somewhere else. And we're already there."

"Eh? How long was I out?" Raising an eyebrow, Yami sat up straight (he was slumped in his seat) so he could look out the window. He saw a rather old and dirty building in the middle of an open field. It looked completely deserted and if it had been uninhabited for at least more than a decade.

"Not that long. I just think you fell asleep right after you woke up because you did make this little noise at a certain point and it sounded like—"

"Where the hell have you taken me?" Yami interrupted him once again, not feeling like hearing the rest of that sentence.

"An orphanage. Come on." Kaiba unbuckled both his own and Yami's seatbelt. "I wanna show you something." He got out of the car, walked to the other side and opened the door. "Don't be a baby. Come on." With a harsh tug, Kaiba pulled Yami out of the car and started dragging him towards the building.

"You know, technically you're kidnapping me because I certainly do _not _want to go in there and you're forcing me to," Yami cheekily remarked, trying his best to keep up with the other's pace.

However, instead of receiving a sarcastic comeback, like he had expected, Kaiba ignored him and kept walking. They went all the way to the other side of the building so they could enter through the back.

It looked like a set that came right out of a horror movie: the ceiling was probably about to collapse, the wallpapers had holes in them, revealing dirt and black fungus, there was at least five inches of dust on the floor, spider webs were sticking to each corner and to top it off, the only lights that were working kept flickering irregularly.

If Yami didn't know any better, he would think Kaiba was going to beat the hell out of him right at that moment and leave his body to rot here. It wouldn't actually surprise him since he had been acting like a jerk and very unprofessional in the last two days. Carefully looking up at Kaiba, he mumbled, "What are we doing here?"

They had stopped in a gigantic gymnasium, which didn't look any better than all the other rooms. It did have some windows so natural light lit up the entire room, but overall it still looked really creepy.

Kaiba had folded his arms over his chest and was staring at one particular spot on the wall, as if he was avoiding the other's eyes. "You have this hole inside of you that you can't seem to fill. No matter what you do, it will always hurt and it will always be there. You can never get away because it will haunt you for the rest of your life. There is no way of getting rid of the pain, but there is a way to deal with it."

Yami was somewhat confused and remained silent since he didn't know what to say.

"This is where I go when I need some time to think or when I need to take out my anger. I have my own experience with losing someone and this is where I go to get back on my feet again."

So _that's _what Kaiba was doing. Yami's left eye twitched and he was about to walk away.

"I'm fine."

Kaiba snorted so loudly that it echoed through the entire room. He stopped dead in his tracks. "Sure. You lost everything in one day, you get injured, you are accused of murder, you almost break your hand, you fucking _faint _in your sister's room… Oh, yeah, you're most definitely fine."

"Shut up!" Yami yelled, feeling his face reddening up to the point where it was the color of a tomato. He had turned around and was now glaring daggers at him. "I am _dealing_ with it!"

"That is in no way _dealing with it. _You can lie to me, you can lie to your friend, hell, you can even lie to the whole world," Kaiba snapped, finally turning to him, making Yami psychically flinch. "but you can't lie to yourself. And that is exactly what you're doing right now. You're not denying what happened, but you are denying the fact that in you're in desperate need of some help. You are a ticking bomb that is about to explode, Yami. It can happen today, tomorrow, next week, next month, maybe even next year, but you _will _break eventually."

"Make your point," Yami said, feeling hot tears burning behind his eyes. He knew Kaiba was right, every single word was true, but for some reason he wanted to have an excuse to yell at him. He had been holding it in since yesterday and seeing that they were alone, there was no one around to stop him from punching him where the sun doesn't shine.

"My point is that I want you to break down here."

A silence fell. One lone tear rolled down Yami's cheek and he quickly wiped it away.

"You can punch holes in the walls, run in circles 'till you puke, kick the pillars, scream, yell, wail, even tear the place down if you want to. As long as you do it _here._"

"Why?" he muttered, his voice breaking.

"Because I don't want it to happen while you're on the job."

Yami huffed and looked away, trying to control his breathing. "Right, 'cause I most definitely don't wanna embarrass you."

"This is not about me, and I don't even care what people think of me. You will embarrass _yourself._ People won't treat you the same."

"Little too late for that." When he had walked out of Kisara's office, everyone's eyes fell on him. He, too, would probably have had the urge to stare at someone who had lost everything in one day. No one knows what to say, they can only stare at try to imagine what that person is going through. "They're already giving me those looks."

"Can you imagine the looks you would receive if you lost it at work? They would look at you like some hurt puppy that got lost on its way home. They wouldn't know how to react because they can't relate. When you do explode, you might hurt someone, or yourself. Everyone deals with it in a different way and they usually try to do it on their own and that's where things go wrong. Here you can do whatever you want without getting judged, and no one will ever know you were here or what you've done."

He covered his face with his hand, feeling more tears threatening to fall.

"I'll leave if you want me to. If you want me to stay, then I will. Just let me know."

It was going to happen any minute now. The tight feeling in his chest, his increasing heartbeat, his dry mouth, and the quivering of his lips… it was all there. Kaiba sighed softly through his nose and was about to leave, but Yami quickly grabbed his arm.

Without looking up, Yami whispered, "Stay."

There was a moment of silence before Kaiba gently told him he would.

Yami slowly let go of his arm and slid to the floor. Short and uneven breaths went past his trembling lips, until he took one deep breath and let out the loudest wail he could. That was all it took for him to finally give in.

He screamed, pounded on the floor with his wounded hand and continued to wail like a wounded animal. An endless amount of tears streamed down his face, trickling down his nose, his lips, his sweaty neck, everywhere they could reach. He gritted his teeth to stop the sobbing, but he couldn't gain control of his own body anymore. Saliva mixed with the salty tears crawled down his chin, right onto the dusty floor, creating a tiny puddle.

His entire body trembled with pain and his throat felt raw from all the screaming and sobbing, but he didn't stop. He _couldn't _stop. The tears irritated his eyes up until the point where they felt so dry he could barely blink. The blood pounding in his ears made him feel like he was going to throw up any second, but there was nothing in his empty stomach that he could get rid off.

It went on for minutes, maybe even hours. Yami didn't know how long it would take until he completely ran out of tears or when his vocal chords would simply stop functioning because of all the screaming, sobbing and ululating.

He gradually looked over his shoulder and saw that his boss was leaning against the wall with his hip, staring at a bench a few feet away from him. It was oddly satisfying to have Kaiba in the room with him and he couldn't be more thankful for bringing him here.

* * *

**Author's note: **Yeah, yeah, I know. Yami's not 5'4" but I just wanted to give him that. /shot dead

This was a pretty heavy chapter, and a bit creepy BUT AT LEAST IT WAS A BIT LONGER THAN USUAL afiuadhjsfkds. And Kaiba's being nice. In his own way.

Hope this was worth the wait! Please don't forget to leave a review on your way out~!


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: **... Yo. *waves awkwardly* Still alive, still writing. Ehe. Meep. I'm sorry. PLEASE FORGIVE ME.

Thanks so much for the reviews, y'all rock! Here's the next chapter and we're really getting somewhere, I promise~.

* * *

This place was still an enigma to her. Mana's nose was clogged up from the amount of crying; she could barely breathe. The crumbled up cloth in her mouth was soaked with saliva, but the tight tape kept her from separating her lips. Her eyes darted around in the gloomy room, still finding it too dark to make out anything.

Being beyond disoriented was slowly getting to her. She had no idea how long she had been here already, nor what time of day it was but by the way her body was craving for some water, she guessed for more than two days.

Tears started streaming down her face again as she realized it was over. The last thing she remembered was leaning over her father and Yami staring at her with so much pain in his eyes that she wanted noting more than to jump off the highest building. After running away, someone had appeared in front of her, knocked her out cold and now she had been tied to a chair for god knows how long.

Mana's sweaty palms rubbed against the rope, still hoping that she would somehow be able to loosen the tight knot. Her arms were clamped to her sides, seeing that her hands were bound to either side of her body, only enabling her to wiggle her fingers.

_Crack. _Her head shot up. Every now and then there were footsteps above her, and she became fully aware of the fact that there was _more than one _person in this hell place. Not one of them had bothered to check up on her, so maybe they just wanted to let her starve to death, or simply didn't care.

_Craaaaack._ Another footstep and she heard distinctive voices now. One of them sounded awfully familiar but she couldn't put her finger on it. She had heard that voice several times now, but her panicked mind didn't allow her to connect the dots.

Laughter. Her body started trembling. A muffled sob echoed through the room and she lowered her head, her body slumping in the wooden chair.

More murmuring, more footsteps and slowly but surely, they died down and Mana tensed when she heard someone descend the stairs. The footsteps were getting closer again and now Mana was sure one of them was finally going to check on her.

Adrenaline pumped through her veins. This was her only chance to escape. If that person was going to open the door, all she had to do was kick him in the stomach and make a run for it. She moved her arms and shoulders in desperate attempt to loosen the ropes around her wrist and she gasped when she felt something slip down her right wrist.

"…" The person was only a few feet away now and she quickly managed to free her right hand. A key was shoved into a lock. Mana wasted no time and blindly reached for her left hand, tugging at the rope. The door swung open and she placed her hands back into their original place again.

The lights were turned on and Mana instantly squeezed her eyes shut, turning away from the bright lamp above her head.

"Sorry for taking so long. Couldn't shake off the others," that same familiar voice said.

Mana slowly looked up and saw a man leaning over her. The black cloak hid the only thing she wanted to see: his eyes. The only visible things were his thin lips, which were curled up in a satisfied grin and his slightly clenched jaw.

"But now you have my full attention. Let's get this over with."

He leaned even closer to her until she could almost feel his body temperature and his hand reached for her forehead while his other hand reached for her trembling chest. Taking a deep breath, she raised her leg and violently kicked him in the stomach. The maniac obviously hadn't seen this coming for the blow send him sprawling across the floor.

Mana freed herself, took off the damn tape and spit out the wet cloth. Not wasting any more time, she leaped over him and sprinted towards the door. A million thoughts were spinning around in her mind as she searched for a way out, but when she had climbed the stairs, she was lost.

She had been here before. The giant hall, the red carpeted floor, the bar, the glass tables… Her brain screamed at her to continue and she turned on her heel, spinning around until she saw what she was looking for: an exit. Her legs felt numb from the lack of exercise; indicating she had been sitting in that damn chair for a long time.

"_Mana."_

It was like a whisper in her ear. Mana, after convincing herself it was her disoriented mind playing tricks on her, pushed the door open and closed it behind her again as she ran into the bright daylight. Quickly taking in her surroundings, she found herself in some city, and Mana tried to process the fact that life outside the building had continued while she had been locked up. People were walking around and laughing, obviously oblivious to her panicked state.

"_Come back."_

Her eyes darted around, trying to find a payphone so she could call her brother. Calling out for help was useless. No one would believe her, let alone help her out. She _had _to get in contact with Yami.

"_It won't hurt."_

The door behind her moved and she immediately took off.

"_I promise." _

Tears of panic blurred her vision before she stubbornly wiped at her eyes. She had no idea what was going on or what was going to happen to her, all she knew was that she wanted to hear her brother's voice.

Within less than seconds Mana was engulfed in citizens, couples giggling to each other, women holding tiny babies in their arms, men in a rush to get to the train station and there she was, frantically running from the stranger. Quickly looking over her shoulder, a few tears escaped from the corner of her eyes.

"_Mana…"_

* * *

_Tokyo, Japan_

_September 12__th__, day 33, 9:04 am _

The bandages around his right hand didn't allow Yami to move them around freely and it was annoying him. It looked exactly like it did in those weird action movies, which was almost ironic to him since his life didn't feel real anymore. It was as if he was merely a bystander who was watching from the sidelines. Or maybe that was his way of dealing with the pain he felt.

After Kaiba had brought him to that deserted orphanage, he had felt a lot better. He couldn't talk properly for a few hours because he had been screaming so hard, but it had been worth it. Kaiba had taken him back to the car to drive him back to the apartment where Anzu was waiting for him. She had put on a random movie they could watch together and Yami appreciated the offer, but went to bed right away.

The next few days had gone by in a flash. Since he had been assigned to take a few days off, he was forced to spend time with Anzu and for the first time in his life, he despised her presence. For some reason everything she did ticked him off. She didn't take it personally and tried to give him space by going into town and doing some extra grocery shopping. Whenever she brought up Mana or his father, Yami would snap at her and she'd immediately shut her mouth and change the subject.

And now he was sitting in Ishizu's office, avoiding her piercing gaze.

"I have all day, you know," Ishizu spoke and she tapped the tip of her pen against the notepad on her lap. "Maybe you like to to sit there in silence and not answer my questions. Or you're thinking of different ways to kill me because you'd rather die than be in my presence."

"Hilarious," Yami murmured without looking up. He flexed his fingers again and felt himself twitching at the sharp pain that shot through his entire hand.

"Let's get one thing straight." Ishizu got his attention by setting the notepad aside and folding her hands together, giving him a motherly look. "We both know you're not here because of that lie of yours. Or are you defending your _masculine _pride by denying you are indeed afraid of spiders?"

He could easily pretend he was deadly afraid of those insects and get away with it, or he could tell the truth and say he all made it up because he had gotten this disturbing premonition of someone torturing him. It was probably better to go with the first suggestion, seeing he was sitting in front of a psychologist who would diagnose him with something a lot worse than arachnophobia.

"I guess you saw right through me."

"Hm," she hummed coolly and reached behind her. Yami frowned in confusion, having no idea what she was up to. She turned back to him with a large, hairy spider in her hand and held up to him.

"What is— Oh."

"No chills, sweating, screaming, hiding, panic attack or even the _slightest _hint you're afraid. Makes one wonder."

Yami glared daggers at her, wondering how the hell she was even allowed to have this job because of her sarcasm. She grabbed one of the spider's legs and dangled it in front of his eyes, making him back away out of instinct.

"No wonder I'm not afraid. It's _fake,_" Yami retorted, but he knew it was over.

Ishizu threw the toy over her shoulder and folded her arms over her chest. "That doesn't matter. Most of my patients who truly suffer from this would curl up in their chair and beg me to put it away. You didn't even _flinch_."

"I already told you that I'm able to control myself."

"Phobias cannot be controlled, Tanaka-san. You're not afraid of spiders, probably never were and never will be. Now, then. Shall we move on to the real issue here?"

Yami resisted the urge to flip her off. "Which is?"

"Well, for starters, what happened to your hand?"

"I punched a wall."

"Why?"

"… Because I was angry."

"And why were you angry?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I lost everything in one day?!" Yami snapped at her, wanting to punch another wall, or her. "My baby sister who has the mental age of a child, kicked my father until he was brain dead and then ran off. Kaiba said I had nothing to worry about because his team is on it, but does he honestly think that that's gonna help? We're missing three teenagers and we have no idea where they could possibly be."

"So obviously you're upset about your sister and stressed over your case," Ishizu stated in a neutral voice. "Those are two completely different things to worry about. Why don't we—?"

"My sister _is _the case," was the sharp reply. "I know I'm supposed to separate my private life from work, but those two things got intertwined, which makes it kinda impossible for me to do so."

"I understand you're upset."

"You have no fucking idea."

Ishizu remained silent and glanced over at her notebook. Yami watched her, unsure of what to think. He knew it was highly unlikely that she would be able to face her boss without any notes and was now contemplating whether she had to keep asking him questions or write down what he had just said.

Casting his eyes to his feet, Yami felt guilt eating at him. For the past few days, many had tried to help him and all he'd done so far was snap at everyone and push them away. And now he was preventing Ishizu from doing her job, even though he obviously didn't want to be here in the first place.

Maybe Anzu was right. Bottling things up wasn't always the answer and swearing at his psychologist probably wasn't going to do him any good, either.

"Write it down."

Ishizu looked at him without moving her head. "You sure?"

"Look," Yami breathed, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees. "we had a bad start and I'm sorry about that. Talking is… difficult right now."

"That's completely understandable," Ishizu replied smoothly and she carefully grabbed her notepad and clicked her pen. "I also have to apologize because it's not my duty to force you into anything. I only want to help you because everything's a mess right now and you need to be able to move on. My job is to give you guidance, not to tell you off."

Yami sighed through his nose and nodded. He ran a hand through his bangs and leaned back against the chair, giving her a small smile and getting one in return.

"Do you have any idea why she did this?"

Much to his displeasure, Yami shook his head. "Not a clue. If there was something wrong she would have called me and asked for help. She's done it a lot ever since I left the house for my job. I know her and my dad were not that close, but she would never kill him."

Her hand glided over the paper as she drew the letters in quick and swift motions. "So you two were closer. What about you and your father?"

Yami bit the inside of cheek, not sure how to formulate his answer. "Not exactly close. He was depressed for fourteen years and we kind of grew apart."

Her usual cool eyes shone with concern. Yami found it hard to keep eye contact because his own eyes were starting to itch. He didn't know how he was supposed to tell her everything since he had never told anyone about what happened that night.

"Did something happen?"

Memories flashed in front of his watery eyes and he quickly blinked to get rid of them. His back hurt. Painful screams entered his ears and all he could do was try his best to stay focused on the present.

"My mom died fourteen years ago."

Right at that moment his phone started vibrating. Awkwardly looking down at his pocket and looking back at the psychologist, he silently asked her if he was allowed to answer.

With a flick of her wrist, Ishizu said, "Go on. It could be important."

"Thanks."

Yami got up from his chair, fished his phone out of his pocket and left her small office. He flipped open his phone and saw a number he had never seen before. For a good ten seconds he stared at the screen, wondering whether he had to press the green button or not. Then again, if he took this call, he wouldn't have to talk to Ishizu.

"Hello?" he said after pressing the device against his ear.

"… Y-Yami?"

The hand that was holding the phone started shaking and his mouth felt incredibly dry.

Mana. It was Mana. Mana had called him, which meant she was still alive. "Mana…? Where—"

"I know he's going to get to me soon so I don't have much time. I am _so _sorry about what I did. After I ran away, I was knocked out and kidnapped. I woke up in a basement, some guy tried to assault me and I keep hearing his voice as if he's in my head! I don't know what's going on, anymore. My head hurts like hell and I feel completely drained. I just wanted to call you and hear your voice and wanted you to tell me that it's going to be okay."

Mana was talking so fast that Yami was having a lot of trouble keeping up. Her voice was shaking and it sounded like she was close to crying her eyes out. He seriously didn't care about what happened, all he wanted was to get to her and talk to her.

"Mana, it's great that you called. Please tell me where you are."

"Yami, I'm so sorry about e-everything," his sister said and this time, Yami knew she was crying.

"Where _are _you?" Yami was already on his way to the exit, he didn't care about his appointment or his job anymore. He snatched his keys out of his pocket and started jogging down the stairs.

"… I d-don't know…"

"Look around! Ask someone! I don't care, as long as you find out where you are so I can come and pick you up!"

People were looking at him as he was yelling at the phone but he couldn't care less. Mana was quietly sobbing on the other side, tearing his heart in two. His yelling only made it worse; he should be calm and collected, like Kaiba had told him to be so many times.

"Tokyo, I'm in Tokyo. The guy who took me was wearing a black cloak, was about your height and in his twenties. I couldn't see his eyes, or anything for that matter. He said that whatever he's going to do to me would be painless. And he also said that there were others."

The information sounded random at first, but Yami knew exactly what she was doing and that she was running out of time. He took a deep breath to calm himself, mentally preparing for the worst that could happen. His free hand that was holding the keys was still shaking uncontrollably and his chest tightened.

"Mana," he cleared his throat. "were you in a building, a house, or…?"

"Building."

"Is he watching you right now?"

A quiet whimper. "Yes."

His chest tightened even more. He needed to find Kaiba. "If he takes you, take off that cloak of his. You're in the middle of a crowded area so take advantage of that. Start screaming, crying, make a scene, make a complete mess, _anything _to draw attention."

"… Okay," she whispered. Yami shut his eyes and pressed his lips together, forcing himself to stay calm.

_Click. _

It went completely silent and Yami was pretty sure his heart skipped a beat. "Mana?"

"I told you to stay out of this."

The phone slipped through his fingers. It was as if someone had wrapped their hands around his neck for breathing had become incredibly difficult. It was that same voice he had heard in that short vision and from what Mana had described to him, it had to be the same guy. He matched the description perfectly and sadly, that was the only thing he knew about this creep.

Realization dawned on him. He had never even met this guy, and Mana telling him that she could hear his voice in her head made his heart beat even faster. Just what _the fuck _was going on?

Yami slowly reached for his phone, picked it up and let his legs drag him back upstairs. Before he could turn around the corner, someone roughly grabbed his arm and dragged him back. Letting out a startled gasp, Yami immediately started struggling, but was slammed against a firm wall.

His boss was standing in front of him, and Yami's breath hitched. There were strangle marks on Kaiba's pale neck and the area around his right eye looked dark and bruised. On top of that, he looked like he was about to collapse any second. Instinctively, Yami straightened up just in case.

"What happened to you?" he asked in an awfully calm voice.

A bitter chuckle brushed over his sweaty cheeks and he shivered. "My brother."

Blood red eyes almost popped out of his head as he grabbed Kaiba's shoulder tightly and squeezed. "_What?" _

"Last night, when I got home, he tried to drown me in the sink and after that, strangled me with my own belt. He wouldn't stop no matter what I did and wouldn't answer my questions, so I…" Kaiba sighed and lowered his head, his usual voice quivering. "I had to knock him out and cuffed him to the fridge. He escaped."

Something flashed in front of Yami's eyes and he felt his knees buckling under his own weight. He felt like he was going to black out, but then he saw two people in a kitchen, one of them pushing the other's head under the water in the sink.

_He stopped moving completely, letting himself go limp in his brother's grip. _

_As planned, the grip softened and Kaiba immediately raised his head out of the water and spit water in his brother's face to distract him. The other reached for his eyes to get the water out and Kaiba managed to get his wrists out of the belt. _

_"No, no, die! _Die!"_ Kaiba grabbed his brother's shoulders and shook him. _

_"What's gotten into you, Mokuba? Is someone blackmailing you? Are you following someone else's orders?" _

_But Mokuba didn't appear to listen to him; all he did was cry and scream. Kaiba's brain wasn't working properly, he couldn't come up with anything else to say or do. Adrenaline was pumping through his entire body and his heart was racing like crazy to warm him up again. The ice cold water in the sink had left his skin red and numb. _

_"Answer me!" he yelled, pushing Mokuba against the fridge. "This is not you, Mokuba— Ow!"_

_In one swift move, Mokuba turned the tables and had slammed Kaiba's head against the fridge. Then, within two seconds, he had wrapped the belt around his throat. _

_"The pain will stop, the pain will stop…" Mokuba panted, pulling on the belt's ends and letting Kaiba snarl and gasp for air. The edges of the cold leather were digging into his skin, almost enough to draw blood. _

Then, as if time had stopped for a second, he felt himself back in the present. His head was spinning; was he hallucinating?

"The pain will stop…" Yami looked up at Kaiba and they looked at each other for a few seconds, Yami's eyes softened when he saw blue eyes shimmering with salty tears. Kaiba looked fucking broken and even though they were not that close, it still felt like a dagger in his chest.

"That's what he said," Kaiba muttered and he took a few steps back, wobbling for a second before he straightened up again. "Just like your sister and the others. We need to find out if they knew each other or if anyone has ever seen them together. There has to be _some _link between those kids."

"Did your brother go to Yugi Mutou's show?" It was the first thing Yami could think of and he felt a shiver go down his spine when their eyes met once again. He froze on the spot because it looked like Kaiba was going to murder him.

"My own brother, my very own flesh and blood, the only family I've got left, tried to kill me last night and you wanna know if he's a fan of a _fucking moron who thinks he has magical powers?!" _

Yami psychically winced and several people came running towards them. Kaiba was towering over him, his breathing far out of control and his eyes swimming with tears of rage. His own breathing was shallow as they stared at each other; Yami gathered his courage and swallowed before he spoke again.

"Kaiba, calm down—"

His air was cut off. Kaiba had pressed his arm against his neck and was pressing. _Hard. _Some of their colleagues yelled at him to stop, but they were ignored. Yami didn't struggle, merely looked him dead in the eye. He felt his face going red and his lungs screaming for air.

"I should've fired you on day one. All you do is run around like a toddler, ignore my orders, disrespect me, and most importantly, you piss me off," Kaiba whispered, one single tear rolling down his cheek. "You're fucking pathetic, useless and you're an ass. You can go to hell."

Mai had walked over to them and pulled Kaiba's arm away from Yami's neck. He coughed, gulping in precious amounts of air and covering his neck, which felt hot and raw.

"You've _got_ to get a grip!" Mai shouted, beyond furious. "Yami's done nothing wrong and all he's been trying to do is help you out. Both of you are going through a hard time right now and all you do is try to bite each other's head off. We're all working our asses off here and you need to get it through your thick head that this is one of the hardest cases we've ever worked on. I'm sorry about what happened, and that Mokuba's gone, I really am, but now's not the time to take out your anger on a police officer who's just trying to do his job!"

Everyone watched them, their eyes wide and mouths slightly open. Mai had put both of her hands on her hips and was blocking Kaiba from escaping, her violet eyes practically shooting fire. Kaiba didn't move, his bangs were shielding his face from view as he hung his head, and all Yami could feel was the blood pounding in his ears while the person he looked up to stood there like a motionless puppet.

Mai turned to the remaining bystanders and with a flick of her wrist, sent them away so the three of them were alone. She slowly turned back to Kaiba and placed a comforting hand on his arm.

"Why didn't you call us?"

"I thought I could handle it myself." Kaiba was still hiding his eyes.

"What are the similarities between Yami's case and yours?"

"He was hysterical, wouldn't listen, started crying his eyes out at some point, kept saying that he was in pain and that it would stop soon, and… he's seventeen."

"Okay." Mai rubbed his arm and gave it a firm squeeze. "I'll go get you some water. I swear, if you two go at it again, I will throat punch you. I mean it."

"Yes, ma'am," Yami mumbled in a hoarse voice and she walked past him, brushing her hand over his shoulder as she turned around the corner. Before he could utter an apology, Kaiba cut him to it.

"This is what I was talking about earlier," Kaiba sighed, finally looking up and his bloodshot eyes looking up at the ceiling. "I lost control and took it all out on you. It won't happen again."

Yami guessed this was Kaiba's way of saying sorry, so he nodded and absently rubbed over his neck again.

"What's your deal with Yugi Mutou?"

"All I know is that I found tickets to his show at every house and I know you told me that your brother's a fan of him. Apart from them being a teenager, that's all they have in common. They didn't even know each other. Rebecca was already applying for college, Leon had to go to summer school, Mana wanted to become a make-up artist, they had different hobbies and interests, and they didn't live in the same area… So yeah," Yami carefully explained, half tugging at his collar to distract himself.

"Someone's been doing their homework."

"… Yeah."

"I know that Mokuba wanted to go to his show, but I've been so busy that I barely had time to notice if he actually went to see him or not." Kaiba had started rubbing his forehead and Yami pressed his lips together. "Do you really think he has something to do with the murders?"

"I do," Yami quickly said.

"Then I guess we'll have to pay him a visit.

* * *

**Author's note: **YAY. I'm getting a bit too excited because I can _finally _write the next chapter (I like writing in chronological order and it's annoying sometimes) and I've wanted to write it for so long, it's not even real. WE'LL MEET YUGI, YAY. *flies into the sun*

Please review~!


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's notes:** *surrounded by Easter eggs* Yooooo. Happy Easter! So much chocolate, so little time…

AND NOW THE CHAPTER WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR. THE ANSWER TO ALL THOSE DAMN QUESTIONS. YOSH.

Also, le Puzzleshipping is right around the corner. Ha. Meep.

* * *

_Tokyo, Japan_  
_September 13th, day 34, 7:21 pm _

All of a sudden, Yami felt nervous. He had never interviewed someone, let alone a person who could be behind all kinds of horrible crimes.

While everyone around him was chatting excitedly about the show, Yami strode over to the auditorium. There were so many posh looking seats that it almost looked like he was staring into infinity. They were all facing a huge stage, which was still empty, except for a few boxes and tables. Huge curtains had been pulled aside and when Yami turned his head, he saw the back area behind those red velvet curtains.

Taking a deep breath, he walked down the stairs and then climbed the stairs of the stage itself. The wood beneath his boots felt weird; awfully fragile and a bit damp. People in black clothing were pacing up and down behind the curtains, shouting instructions at each other and moving things around.

Yami fidgeted a bit before he took out his badge in case anyone asked and walked past all those people. Several of them gave him odd looks, but they shut their mouth when they saw the badge he was holding close to his chest. A few nervous murmurs could be heard in the distance and he even heard,

"_Maybe it's about those murders. Do you think he's here to arrest someone?" _

It didn't take very long to find what he was looking for. There were a few rooms, but only one of them was closed and had a huge yellow star on it. Yami let out a small breath through his nose and knocked.

There was a bit of shuffling before someone from the other side opened the door. It was as if his heart dropped down his stomach the minute the young adult was revealed to him.

Yugi Mutou was only a few centimeters shorter than him, yet looked tall because of the confidence that was radiating from him. His shining violet eyes looked up at him questioningly, sparkling with a hint of excitement. Yami's eyes fell on his lips, they were small and looked dry, and… familiar. His sharp jawline also looked like he had seen it before. His eyes narrowed.

"Um, who are you?" Yugi said with a hint of an amused smile. Oddly enough, his voice wasn't the same he had heard on the phone and it made him even more nervous than he already was.

"I'm Yami Tanaka, police officer at the Criminal Investigation Bureau." Yami held up his badge and Yugi raised one of his thin eyebrows in response, obviously not intimidated.

"Can I help you?"

"I only want to ask you some questions."

Again, Yugi didn't look very impressed. "Why, may I ask?"

"Just doing my job. Can I come in?"

"… Sure." Yugi gave the door a small push and stepped aside, allowing him entrance. When Yami walked past him, he caught a hint of his cologne and felt the urge to keep his distance. The door was closed so they could have their privacy and Yami took a quick look around the room.

It was very cliché: small, with a white dressing table, surrounded by fancy lights, a coffee machine, a closet with a clothing rack right next to it, and another small table accompanied by a plastic chair. Curious, Yami walked over to the clothing rack and ran his hands over the black cloak that was hanging there. The fabric was so incredibly smooth and had something addictive about it, making him want to run his hand over it until the joint would get tired.

He felt Yugi's eyes on him. Even though he was neatly dressed, he didn't appear to be a very polite guy. In fact, he was probably anything _but. _

"I don't wanna be rude, but I gotta get on stage in a few minutes. It would've been better if you had done this _after _my show."

Raising both of his eyebrows, Yami looked over his shoulder at the magician who was had taken a seat behind the small table and was giving him an intriguing look. "Fine, I'll get on with it."

"One question, though." Yugi raised one finger in the air and pursed his lips. "Why do you have to interview _me?_"

"Three people were brutally murdered over the past few weeks and two days ago, there was another attempt," Yami said quickly, his heartbeat quickening already. "I'm here to investigate."

A small frown appeared on Yugi's face. "That's very awful, but again, what does that have to do with _me?" _

His head throbbed and he shoved his shaky hands in his pockets to hide them. "The three kids that committed the crime all have one thing in common—"

"Wait, lemme get this straight." Yugi got up from his chair, his hands were resting on the table and he tipped his head to one side. "You already know who murdered those people?"

Yami tried to swallow the big lump that had formed in his throat. This was not good. Yugi was staring at him like he was a complete idiot and now that he put it like that, Yami felt like his brain had shut down. He couldn't think straight anymore and he felt faint.

"Yes, but—"

"Did people testify?"

"Yes—"

"Then it's solved, right? You have no reason to be here."

_Fuck. _"I do."

"Oh?" Yugi folded his arms over his chest and took a few daring steps forward, raising his head so his chin stuck out. "I'm not a professional, but I do know that once the murder is solved, they close the case. If you already know who committed the crime, then I suggest asking the murderers what you wanna know and not some random guy who has to perform in five minutes."

"We are not closing this case until we have all the necessary answers."

Yugi took another step forward and Yami felt warmth in his stomach, spreading all the way up to his chest. "Are you new, or something? You're not very good at this."

Blood rushed to his face and Yami fought the urge to punch the guy in the face. "All those kids went to your show."

A silence fell over them, but the eye contact stayed. Yugi's eyes seemed to darken, the light in them faded out and for the briefest moment, they sparkled. Yami leaned in a bit closer; curious as to how Yugi's eyes could display all of that in less than ten seconds. However, Yugi pulled back and Yami saw him wrapping his fingers around his arm, squeezing the skin.

"And?"

"That's quite coincidental."

"Not trying to sound arrogant here, but ever since I started performing in Tokyo, _thousands _of people have come to my show. And you said that the murderers are _kids?_ All the more reason to leave me out of it, since the majority of my fan base consists of children. I'm pretty sure that it's just a coincidence."

This was getting out of hand. Yami had little to no experience in interrogating and now he was on the verge of panicking. "I don't think it is."

A loud snort came from Yugi and Yami felt his left eye twitching. "By all means, go ahead and frisk, interview my colleagues, inspect the entire area. I've got tons of alibies, since I've been on stage for four weeks in a row."

"You're pretty defensive for someone who's innocent."

"Well, apparently I have to be because you obviously think I have something to do with these murders. Does your boss even know you're here?"

"Where were you on the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 11th?"

Yugi narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Right here."

"Can you prove it?"

"Pretty sure my stage manager can."

The longer he talked to this guy, the more he wanted to give him a piece of his mind. It turned out that this was going to be a lot harder than he thought and so far, he hadn't gotten anything out of him.

He reached inside his jacket and took out the pictures he had taken with him. Laying them on the table, he pointed at them. There were four of them: A small one of Rebecca he had gotten from her parents, a large one of Mokuba that Kaiba had given him, another one from Leon that he had printed out himself and a personal one of Mana he always carried around in his wallet.

"Do you recognize any of these teenagers?"

Yugi walked over to the table and glanced at the pictures while Yami watched him closely. Unfortunately, Yugi's face remained neutral, leaving him with absolutely nothing.

"Nope."

"All of them went to your show, though."

"Have you seen the amount of seats? I see hundreds of faces everyday. There's no way I'm going to remember all of them," Yugi argued stubbornly. Yami was breathing fire at this point, beyond pissed off and about to take his magic wand and shove it up his ass.

"You didn't drag them on stage, talk to them or take a picture with them?" Yami urged, feeling like he was about to explode. Kaiba was going to be fucking mad at him and for a very good reason.

Yugi clicked his tongue and looked thoughtful for a few seconds before he shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I have no idea." He quickly added, "Look, I'm sorry, but I don't remember these things. And even if I did, why would it be of any value to you?"

"Because every detail counts."

"Geez, and they let _you _become a police officer? You've got a long way to go, man."

"Have you ever been to Urawa, Warabi or…" he swallowed and blinked to keep eye contact. "Shinagawa?"

He couldn't hold back the sigh when Yugi shook his head. Of course he could be lying about all of this, but seeing that practically everyone in this place could serve as an alibi, there was no way he could prove that _the _Yugi Mutou had anything to do with the murders.

Then, his eyes fell on the cloak again. An idea popped into his head. "Can you put that thing on for me?"

"… Why?"

"Humor me. It's the least you could after all those rude comments of yours," Yami bit back.

"I don't have to do anything for you," Yugi sneered, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "I have the right to be angry or upset since a _police officer_ barges into my room because he suspects me of murder even though he's already got the culprits."

"They're missing!" Yami was losing control now. He was supposed to stay calm and polite, like Kaiba had told him to, but Yugi was pushing his buttons like no one had ever done before.

"And so you come all the way over here because I _obviously _had something to do with that. Oh, wait, I do, because they've all been to my show. D'you have any idea how utterly ridiculous your arguments are?" Yugi chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Please go back to school and study. Not sure if I feel safe now that I know that those people at the academy let people like _you _protect us."

Yami's jaw dropped. "You motherf—"

"Mutou-san, the audience is getting impatient." Both adults looked up at the tall girl in the doorway. She grinned nervously and clutched the doorknob. "S-sorry, did I interrupt something?"

"Nah, don't worry. I think he was just leaving." An innocent smile appeared on Yugi's face and he walked over to the door. He looked over his shoulder at Yami who was clenching his jaw so tightly that it hurt. "Right?"

For a few seconds he considered punching the living daylights out of him, but seeing that he had already screwed up and that Yugi had left him with little to no pride, he decided it was best to leave. Clearing his throat, Yami straightened his tie and brushed past the other. The illusionist kept smiling until that smile turned into a sickening smirk that made Yami grit his teeth.

Then, Yami thought he saw something odd glittering in Yugi's eyes but it disappeared so quickly that it was probably the lightening being weird. He kept his eyes locked on the other's, nearly trying to stare him down. The illusionist, too, was looking at him intensely, his piercing violet gaze appearing to be enjoying every second of this.

"Interesting," Yugi mumbled, yanking him out of his daze. That smirk was still plastered on his face and Yami was surprised to hear that Yugi almost sounded _amused. _It pissed him off even more.

"What?"

"Nothing," was the nonchalant answer and Yami threw his head back in defeat, pretty sure Yugi was just toying with him now. Yugi reached for his cloak and threw it over his shoulder. "Now move, you're in my way."

Shoving his hands in his pockets to make sure he wouldn't break the guy's jaw, Yami obeyed and moved out of the way with a cynical smile. Yugi took his time walking past him, teasingly patting his shoulder with his right hand and dismissing the girl who bowed her head in response and scurried off. Yugi disappeared around the corner, to the stage and it didn't take long before the audience started cheering and Yami rolled his eyes.

Just when he was about to walk towards the exit, his phone started buzzing. Yami got out the device and bit his lip anxiously. He let out a small breath, pressed the green button and held the phone to his ear.

"Yes, Kaiba?"

"So, what'd you find out?"

"Other than the fact that Yugi Mutou's a dick, not much," Yami murmured and he took a few steps back into Yugi's room, closing the door behind him so he could talk in private.

"Interview didn't go as well as you'd hoped?"

Yami absently ran his hands over the wall, not sure what to think anymore. "Not exactly, no." He closed his eyes and sighed to keep his temper. "I could've sworn he had something to do with it."

On the other side, Kaiba cleared his throat, obviously trying to bite back some rude comments. "All right, well, you gave it your best shot. Meet me at the front and we'll go back to the office to talk."

Yami hung up and put the phone away, leaning against the door with his shoulders for a few seconds. His eyes fell on the pictures and quickly jogged over to the table, wanting to hit himself for almost forgetting about the pictures. Quickly putting them back in his plastic bag and shoving it in one of his pockets of his jacket, he headed out.

The cheering, clapping and screaming annoyed the hell out of him so he tried his best to get out of there as soon as possible.

"All right, I'll need a volunteer for my first trick!" Yugi's voice called out and Yami froze. He couldn't resist, he absolutely couldn't and let his feet drag him to the stage. The stage manager was watching everything closely from the side and Yami casually stood next to him with a forced, polite smile. He saw Yugi's profile, facing the audience and teasingly waving his hand around, trying to pick someone.

"Who're you?" the man hissed after he had covered the microphone that was attached to his headset.

Yami made sure to keep that smile on his face when he pulled out his badge again and the man's brown eyes widened. "Police officer."

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, not at all. Just wanna keep an eye out," Yami replied smoothly and put the badge back. He clasped his hands behind his back, feeling his cheeks hurting from smiling too much. The stage manager let out a sigh of relief and focused his attention back on Yugi, who seemed to have picked a small girl.

Her brown curly hair covered her blush while she stood in front of her idol and Yami's eyes narrowed. The girl looked no older than eighteen and was obviously head over heels for the magician. Yugi slowly pulled her towards him and placed his hands on his shoulder, letting her face the audience.

"So, what's your name?"

"C-Chris," the girl stammered, the blush on her face increasing and at this point, her entire face was bright red.

"Tell us a little about yourself, Chris." Yami couldn't believe Yugi's endearing approach. No wonder everyone was in love with him; the guy was an excellent charmer. Plus, he was handsome and he knew it. The kind smile on his face was real and he was stroking Chris' shoulder reassuringly, making Yami frown.

"Well, I'm fourteen," Chris mumbled and Yugi chuckled in response, causing the arms on Yami's arms to stand up straight. It droned in his ears for a few seconds, drowning out the curious murmurs from the audience. A teasing, cold shiver ran down his back, making him straighten up. An unwelcoming warm feeling developed in his stomach once again and he groaned inwardly, wondering what the hell was going on.

It appeared Chris was a very shy girl and didn't know how to respond to Yugi's questions. She was playing with her long skirt and avoiding eye contact. Their small talk went on for a few minutes, Yugi coming up with simple questions and Chris giving him closed answers. The atmosphere felt cold and awkward until Yugi moved one of his hands to rest between her shoulder blades and put on one of the most inviting smiles Yami had ever seen in his life.

"Do you already know what you wanna do when you grow up?"

Smart move. Chris' eyes started sparkling right away and she beamed at him. It was as if Yugi had pressed a button, seeing that the air felt warmer and the girl had become very enthusiastic. "Yeah, I wanna become a vet!"

"Oh, so you love animals?" Yugi's smile was real and so bright that anyone would have fallen for it, Yami thought bitterly. "That's great! You're probably very smart."

Chris giggled and looked away, playing with her short hair. "W-well, I do get good grades in biology and chemistry."

"I'm sure you'll become a great vet and that your parents will be very proud of you. Everyone, show this incredible girl some love!"

The room exploded with the audience's cheers and applause, but Yami was starting to feel sick. Of course nothing was certain and he could be totally wrong, yet, there was something very off about this. He watched as Yugi circled the girl a few times, humming teasingly and letting his cloak flutter behind him. Yugi was playing some twisted, psychological game that he was very good at, and Yami hated how he was wrapping everyone in the room around his finger, including him, and that they were now waiting with bated breath for the so-called magician to make his move.

The black and red silk stopped flowing as Yugi stood behind the girl and held up his arms. Yami tensed and felt a small bead of sweat trickling down his neck. This was it.

"Do you trust me?" Yugi almost whispered to Chris and when she nodded, he shook his wrists so his sleeves were pulled back and placed his fingers over her eyes, blinding her. "Relax and close your eyes."

He dropped his hands once she had closed her eyes, winked at the audience and snapped his fingers. The audience, including Yami, gasped as Chris' body went limp and she nearly hit the floor if it weren't for Yugi who gracefully caught her. Yami was about to run forward, but the stage manager held up his hand, preventing him from moving.

"She's fine," he assured.

"But he—!"

"Just keep watching."

Yugi laid her on the floor, crouched down, took off his cloak and covered her up, smoothing it out so her figure was completely visible beneath the silk. Not even a second passed before he yanked the cloak off her body, discarding it into the air with an elegant flick of his wrist. It swirled around before it disappeared and when Yami frowned, his eyes fell on the spot where Chris was supposed to be, only to find out she was gone. People gasped again and started clapping enthusiastically while Yami was absolutely flabbergasted. Yugi threw his hands up in the air with a triumphant grin plastered on his face, obviously enjoying the attention more than anything, pissing Yami off.

"He's better than I thought," he snarled and the stage manager nodded with a smirk.

"Don't worry, don't worry," Yugi called out, his grin turning into an arrogant smirk and Yami bit back a nasty remark. "I've got her right," he pulled his cloak out of thin air, straightened it out, let his free hand run over the smooth fabric and dropped it to the floor, revealing a shocked Chris. "here."

Everyone immediately jumped out of their seat to give Yugi a standing ovation. Chris wobbled on her feet a bit, looking just as surprised as Yami felt, and stumbled over to Yugi who put an arm around her. Chris looked up at her idol with her big brown eyes and Yami gritted his teeth when Yugi ruffled her hair and gave her a quick, one-armed hug. That same blush appeared on her chubby cheeks as Yugi gently pressed their foreheads together and held her hand.

"Thank you. You can go back to your seat now," he told her and she obeyed, bouncing off the small stairs, running back to her seat and giggling like crazy.

"Now that we've warmed up, we can start heating things up," Yugi announced as he bent down to pick up his cloak. Yami's eyes widened when he found himself staring at the other's backside, which was hidden behind the thin layer of leather. Rolling his eyes up to the ceiling, he cursed himself and unconsciously dug his heel into the wooden floor to distract himself.

"You okay?"

Yami nearly jumped out of his skin and looked at the stage manager who was giving him an amused look. "Perfectly fine. I should go."

"There's no need to be ashamed, you know," the guy said, that stupid shit-eating grin on his face widening. "It's okay to be impressed by his skills. Sometimes he still manages to blow my mind and I've seen pretty much everything."

"He almost dropped her."

"'It's all part of the act."

Raising an eyebrow, Yami let his eyes wander off to Yugi who was holding up a hat and pursing his lips. The black object flew up in the air and exploded, much to Yami's surprise. Millions of golden glitters swirled around and Yami was so distracted by the reflecting light that his jaw dropped when he saw that Yugi had vanished. People even stood up to look for him and Yami couldn't help but wonder how the hell he'd managed to—

"Bet you didn't see that coming," a voice whispered in his ear, causing Yami's instincts to kick in, so he tried to punch whatever was behind him, but stopped when a soft hand grabbed his wrist to keep him from doing so. He turned around and saw Yugi smirking up at him in triumph. "Hope you're enjoying the show."

Yami yanked his wrist back and stared him down. "You're good at distracting people. That's all."

"Don't act so tough," Yugi replied, infuriating him. "If you wanna be a police officer, you gotta work on your social skills. Anyone with a brain can tell you're trying way too hard here and that you're a bad liar. But I guess your looks outweigh your poor abilities."

His heart jumped as Yugi teasingly patted his cheek before he went around the back so he could appear back onstage. Yami let out a small breath, trying to process what just happened. He was hot, way too hot, and he noticed he was shaking.

The stage manager was about to open his mouth but Yami shot him a look. "One word and I won't hesitate to stick my foot up your ass."

Without waiting for an answer, Yami quickly went to the back and made his way through the mass of people that was taking care of the show. His heart was beating rapidly against his chest and he shook his head to pull himself together. It had been a while since he had had someone and, inconveniently, it had come to bite him in the ass. His head was telling him to shut up and pick up the pace, but his stupid feelings were going nuts about the fact someone had _flirted _with him after all this time. His stomach did a few flips and Yami decided to kick the exit door open with his boot.

"Wow, someone's ego got bruised," Kaiba muttered after Yami had found his car and told him what happened, casually leaving out the last part. "You gotta admit that the guy's good. He should've become a lawyer, not some stupid magician."

"Glad to see you're on my side," Yami remarked and secured his seatbelt.

"Oh, don't be a baby. This is your first _real _case. Of course you're gonna make mistakes and fuck up. It's what we all do. It sucks, but you knew that was bound to happen when you chose this job," Kaiba shot back and Yami looked away, gripping his arm so tightly that his hand started trembling. "So stop whining and suck it up. You're gonna write down everything that happened, every word, every action, every detail, and you're gonna reflect."

As soon as Kaiba mentioned the word _everything_ Yami flinched. He slowly looked at his boss with an awkward smile. "… Everything?"

"Yes. That way, you'll learn from your mistakes and you won't make them again. I want your report by tomorrow morning."

Kaiba started the car and Yami hung his head in defeat. They drove off and Yami leaned back against the chair, folding his arms over his chest and trying to calm down. He could always exclude the flirting part because, technically, it had nothing to do with the case. After all, Yugi had downright insulted him _again _and…. complimented him. And touched him.

Yugi was _such _an asshole.

"Also, I almost forgot to tell you. Before we left, I looked into his files and I found out you used to live in the same neighborhood."

"_What?"_ Yami gave him an incredulous look.

"You told me Sugoroku Mutou used to babysit you and your sister, right? That's his grandfather."

Yami couldn't believe he had overlooked this extremely important detail. "How the hell did I miss that?"

"Like I said, it's your first case," Kaiba reminded him and Yami grumbled something under his breath in response. "Happens to the best of us. Not to me, of course, but most people tend to overlook the things that are right in front of them. If you're still interested, I called him and arranged an interview."

"You're giving me a second chance?" Yami was quite confused that Kaiba still trusted him after this and had sort of expected to lose his job. Especially since he messed up _big time. _

"The guy's at least eighty years old. If you can't handle that, then you're obviously not capable of doing your job. 16th, ten o'clock, his place. Got it?" Kaiba gave him a look and Yami blinked when he saw that he was serious about this.

He managed to raise the corners of his lips. "Yes, sir."

* * *

**Author's note: **What. THERE WAS PUZZLESHIPPING IN THERE. For, like, two seconds, but it was totally there! :DDDD

Oooookay, so yeah, working out my notes because I kinda messed things up in the next chapter. It's probably because I'm also working on my other stories and it's seriously making my head spin. Uhuhuhuhuhuhu, adlufishajksdfl *noms on chocolate*

Please don't forget to leave a review~!


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: **SO. How long has it been? Too long, yes, I know. Life's been quite hectic, some stuff happened, but do note that I've been working ahead~. I've got the next chapter finished, plus chapter 10 and am now working on chapter 11 (chapter nine is being annoying). I can safely say that you'll get an update next week!

**Warning:** Blood, gore and generally heavy stuff in this chapter.

* * *

_Tokyo, Japan  
September 16__th__, day 37, 9:38 am _

From the very beginning, Yami knew he never should've agreed to those sessions with Ishizu. The more they talked, the more he despised her. She was thorough, _very _thorough and wouldn't stop nagging until he would spit out the answer she wanted. Of course she had reported to Kaiba ("That's my duty, Tanaka-san. I work for him.") and now Kaiba was also constantly asking him about the death of his mother and, worst of all, whether he was _sure _he wanted to be a police officer.

They were in his office after Kaiba had downright dragged him there and locked the door to make sure no one could randomly waltz in on them like this. Yami was beyond pissed off, not only because this was the last thing he would ever want to talk about, but also because he was going to be late for his interview.

"I'm worried about you."

"Well, you shouldn't be."

Kaiba pinned him with a glare, which Yami gladly mirrored. "I'm not saying that you're weak—"

"Yes, you are," Yami spat and gripped the door handle because he needed to squeeze something. His hand was shaking. "You and Ishizu think I can't handle it. I'll admit I'm not made of stone, but _come on._ I'm not Bambi."

"I'm not saying you are," Kaiba shot back and Yami's lips twitched at the lie. "All I'm saying is that you've gone through absolute hell. You might wanna reconsider your choice of becoming a part of this team."

The tremor in his hand was getting worse. There were hot tears burning behind his eyes and he swallowed. "I'll be fine."

"Look, it's been over a month and I've picked up some of your so-called quirks and they're becoming more severe. You're not exactly comfortable around bodies yet, you're still awkward around people, you're close-minded, you overlook important details, you're _obsessed _with this Mutou guy and…" Kaiba's eyes softened and Yami frowned in response. "You're upset."

"No, you're just pissing me off."

"You're upset because you know I'm right."

"I'm angry because you're infuriating," Yami corrected and he roughly pulled his hand back and shoved it in his pocket to hide it from view. "All you've done in the past twenty minutes is criticize my actions. That, and you're looking at me like I'm a stray puppy. I hate that."

A silence fell over them and Yami was thankful he had a few seconds to collect himself. He hated to admit that Ishizu digging in his past was very painful and that he still had to recover from his session with her, but it was obvious Kaiba was seeing things. Granted, he was not the best police officer out there, but that didn't give Kaiba any right to downright insult him and treat him like a baby.

"You need to be able to handle criticism," Kaiba told him, suddenly a lot more compassionate and patient, making Yami suspicious. "I want to ask you one more thing and then you can go."

"Fine. Shoot." Yami turned around to unlock the door, glad it was finally over.

"Why do you desperately want this job?"

The sound of keys hitting the floor echoed through the office and Yami shut his eyes in frustration and embarrassment. This was really _not _a good time to let items slip through his fingers. He couldn't help himself; his hands were shaking so badly that it was practically impossible to hold anything.

"Because I want to fight crime." Deciding that such a simple answer was good enough, Yami bent down to pick the keys, shoved them in Kaiba's hands and roughly yanked the door open. He wasn't going to wait for an answer, even though he knew that Kaiba had seen right through him and he half-expected his boss to shut the door and force the real answer out of him.

"Liar."

And there it was. Yami had to summon up every ounce of willpower not to turn around and argue. It would be pointless, anyway, and he couldn't risk getting fired, seeing that he was in a tight spot already. Instead, he decided to walk on and pretend he hadn't heard. Kaiba didn't chase him, or call out his name, and Yami's chest tightened. Some people in the department had looked up after he had opened the door and started murmuring things under their breath to each other.

The rumors had begun spreading already, but he couldn't care less. Everyone could go fuck themselves for all he cared because he knew he had what it took to solve this case. He couldn't afford any more mistakes, though, so he had to stay sharp and those sessions with Ishizu were not exactly helping.

Apparently he had to prove himself to everyone, which was _fine. _From the very beginning, Yami knew damn right that this job would be heavy and that he would struggle, but he had told himself he would pull through. This interview with Yugi Mutou's grandfather was the perfect opportunity to make up for all his stupid mistakes and he was going to show Kaiba that he was perfectly capable of handling his job.

So, once he had arrived, Yami straightened his tie, cleared his throat and walked up to the Game Shop that sent him into a small state of nostalgia. Him and Mana used to play there all the time when they were younger and Sugoruko always let them try out his new games and make them his delicious chocolate cookies. While he was going through all of his memories, he tried to remember if Yugi was ever there, but he couldn't remember anything about him. They had lived in the _same _neighborhood; surely he _had _to have some recollection of the guy, if not just a glimpse of him passing by.

However, his mind remained blank. All he could remember was the faint scent of chocolate and his smiling sister, which made his heart clench. As soon as he stepped into that house, he would have to refrain from getting overwhelmed by the haunting memories and stay professional. This was probably his only chance of clearing his name.

After knocking on the glass, Yami shoved his hand in his pocket and kicked a small rock that was lying on the ground. Only a few seconds passed before Sugoruko opened the door and smiled up at him.

"Hey, there," he greeted politely, but it was clear as day that he knew what happened. Yami saw the look in his watery violet eyes: he was feeling sorry for him, but there was also hurt because he had known Mana as well. He was the one who watched her grow up and for the first time, Yami realized that he was not alone. Sugoruko was the only thing closest to family he had left, and Yami felt his hands shaking in his pocket.

"Morning," Yami managed to bring out, his voice wobbly and bowed. "You gonna let me in, or…?"

"Ah, of course. Sorry." Sugoruko stepped aside and Yami reluctantly entered and found himself looking around the small shop that hadn't changed at all. They were surrounded by games, hidden behind glass cases. Yami forced himself to look down at their feet and followed the man to the living room upstairs.

The area was exactly like he remembered: a grey floor, white walls, the small kitchen attached to it, the green couch and very old TV that only had a few channels. Mana would always kick it and tell it off for not showing her favorite cartoons back when she was a toddler. It surprised Yami that it was still there after all those years.

Sugoroku motioned towards the kitchen. "You want anything to drink?"

"Coffee," Yami smiled and sat down at the dinner table with a small sigh. After some fumbling around with his jacket, he had managed to unbutton a few of the lower buttons to get more comfortable and folded his hands together.

A minute or so later, Sugoroku came back with a cup of coffee, some sweets and a cup of tea. Yami grabbed his notepad and awkwardly twirled the pen around in his hand.

"I guess we'll get started right away."

"Yami…"

Don't, Yami pleaded in his head. I _really _don't wanna go there.

"I'm fine," he quickly brushed it off. "Now, about Yugi—"

"You don't look fine."

Pressing his lips together, Yami slowly looked up at the sorrowful violet eyes and gripped the pen. "I didn't come here to talk about my sister _or _my father. I'm here to talk about your grandson."

It came out a lot harsher than he had expected and he regretted it right away. Sugoroku looked at him as if he had just been slapped in the face and Yami bit the inside of his cheek.

"… Sorry," he apologized genuinely and bowed his head. "I didn't mean it like that."

"She was like a granddaughter to me, you know."

The familiar hollow feeling in his stomach had returned and all Yami could do was try to find his voice. Breathing was becoming harder and a sharp pain shot through his head as his heart started beating faster and was pumping adrenaline through his entire body.

"We don't know if she's dead."

"I'm not an idiot, Yami," Sugoroku's gentle tone changed into an annoyed one. "I know that you're fully aware of the situation and so am I, so let's not pretend. You're here for an interview, I know, but if you want to talk about it, then I'm all ears. This stoic attitude of yours is not gonna get you anywhere, son."

The fact that everyone kept telling him he should talk about it was really starting to piss him off. They didn't know that he didn't _want _to talk about it, because he didn't know what would happen if he let the dam collapse. He'd rather not take that risk and besides, he had already let out all his frustration and sorrow with Kaiba right beside him. Surely, he didn't need another opportunity to voice his feelings.

"Thank you, but like I said, I'm fine," Yami declined and avoided eye contact for the time being to make sure he wouldn't change his mind. "I'd like to start from the beginning. Yugi has lived here his whole life?"

Obviously aware of Yami antics, Sugoroku went along and folded his arms over his chest. "Well, his parents got divorced not too long after he turned eight, which was about fourteen years ago, and my daughter decided to move back in with me and bring Yugi along. Her husband, _ex_-husband, moved to another city to live with that other woman he had fallen in love with. So, Yugi lived here for about a decade and then moved out when he went off to college."

While he was writing all of this down, Yami noticed he was putting more pressure on the pen than necessary. "Yugi's in his twenties now, right?"

"Yes, he turned twenty-two in June."

Yami swallowed. No wonder he hadn't noticed Yugi at the time. He had been so busy dealing with his own issues at the time that he didn't even took note of Yugi moving into this house.

"How come Mana and I have never seen him?"

Sugoroku tipped his head to one side and gave him a skeptical look. "Yugi was a very closed kid. He'd often lock himself up in his room and only come out when I called him down for dinner. The divorce of his parents nearly broke him. He was also very shy and avoided guests like the plague. It actually doesn't surprise me he never came down to play with you and your sister." Then, he licked his lips and leaned a bit forward. "Though, I'm sure you've seen him at school?"

Blink. "School?"

"You went to the same high school," Sugoroku said, the hurt evident in his voice. "Don't tell me you never noticed."

Cursing himself a good few times, Yami hung his head. "I forgot for a second. We often saw each other during breaks. Never really talked to him, though."

The lie came out so smoothly that Yami could hardly believe it. Nor could he believe Sugoroku's relief and he felt even worse than before. After the interview, he would have to think about this more thoroughly and slap himself in the face a few times for _forgetting _they went to the same school for _four years._

"Your job must be very stressful. Though, I have to agree that he _was _always very quiet and shy. He never brought any friends with him, but passed all of his classes nonetheless. Sometimes I would really worry about him," Sugoroku continued and Yami started writing again. "That is, until he graduated and went to college. He changed in the blink of an eye."

"Oh?" Yami inquired, not being able to keep the curiosity out of his voice.

"Sometimes I would ask if he knew what he wanted to do as soon as he graduated, but it wasn't until the last few weeks of school, he came up to me and told me he wanted to become an illusionist. Before that, every time I asked, he'd shyly tell me he had no idea."

That sounded very odd coming from a guy who was insanely good at his job and was already so full of himself that he would probably burst.

"… I see," Yami answered dully to keep the conversation going.

"I'm very proud of his achievements," Sugoroku said gleefully and a lovely sparkle appeared in his eyes. "He doesn't have time to come visit me anymore because he's so busy, so I watch him on TV whenever I can and he manages to impress me every time."

Yami's eye twitched. "What about his mother? What was her response to this sudden turn of events?"

The sparkle disappeared right away and Yami felt like he had just stabbed the man in the chest. "My daughter um… She was very upset about the divorce as well and often went out after work and got home late. I advised her to find a therapist, but she wouldn't listen to me. I think this affected Yugi as well. She…"

There was a small pause. Yami looked down at his coffee and brought the cup to his lips to give Sugoroku time to formulate his answer. The liquid had already gone cold and Yami tried not to grimace. Just like him, Sugoroku hadn't touched his drink and the cookies lay there, untouched as well, and to Yami it looked like they were out of place. The air felt even tenser than before and Yami somewhat wanted to take it back, but the answer could be important.

"My daughter committed suicide not too long before Yugi's graduation."

Tightening his grip on the pen to make sure he wouldn't drop it, Yami stared at him. His wine-colored eyes lingered on the other's for a moment before he quietly laid the pen on the table. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, you don't have to apologize," Sugoroku said with a forced smile. "After all, I think her death is what drove him to change. Maybe she was holding him back with her depression and suicidal thoughts."

Those words sounded so incredibly bitter that it sent shivers down Yami's spine and made goose bumps appear on his arms. He quietly wrote it down and kept his eyes on the blue ink. It did make some sense, but still…

"I personally think that her death is what helped Yugi wake up. To me it looked like he was stuck in his own world and he desperately needed a wake-up call. We were both upset for weeks, but that didn't stop him from going to college to chase his dreams. And look how far he's come!"

Yami gaped at him. There were no words to describe what he was feeling. Luckily, he didn't have to, and simply cleared his throat. "I guess that's a good thing, then."

"She was lost," Sugoroku added. "So very lost. She came home drunk almost every night, but I knew she was only doing it to forget about that asshole. Yugi avoided talking to her the most because all she could talk about was her ex-husband and ask herself why he left her."

It was becoming harder and harder for Yami to stay calm. "All right. Can you be a bit more specific about the day that Yugi changed? Did he go somewhere, did he meet someone, or…?"

"If I'm not mistaken, it was only a few days after her death. He was very upset at first and barely shed a tear at her funeral, but the very next day, he came downstairs for breakfast, walked up to me and said, "I've finally made up my mind, Jii-chan! I want to become an illusionist and amaze people with my skills!"

"… Nothing about making you or his mother proud?" Yami asked cautiously.

"Oddly enough, no."

A small frown appeared on Yami's pale face. "Okay. And you're sure nothing happened on the day of her funeral?"

"We went there and he was as quiet as ever and didn't look anyone in the eye during the funeral. After the ceremony, he followed me to the car, sat down and kept his chin pressed to his chest. When we got home, he just went up to his room as usual and refused to come down for dinner."

"Can I see his room?" Yami blurted out and his eyes widened in embarrassment.

Unfortunately, Sugoroku didn't appear to notice and smiled. "Sure. Upstairs, first door on the left."

Yami nodded, got up and walked towards the stairs. The steps creaked awfully beneath his boots as if they hadn't been stepped on in years and he blinked when he saw the tiny hall he ended up in. The wooden floor let out another squeak as he set the first step and fastened his eyes on the door on the left. It was as if he had ended up in some horror movie, because the air smelled like dust and as soon as he entered Yugi's room, he got the nasty feeling he was locked in.

The room was empty, except for a made bed on the left, a small desk in front of the window and a bookcase with only a few books. Yami looked around while he took a few more daring steps forward, not entirely sure what he was looking for. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, other than the fact that it was obvious no one had been here for a good two years.

There was absolutely nothing here he could use. The books he had quickly flipped through were merely old novels, there was not a single piece of paper left on the desk, no abnormal things under the bed and after a few moments of pacing, Yami dropped himself on the bed with a loud sigh.

Granted, Yugi was probably in some weird state of shock and probably had nothing to do with those murders after all. He was just a troubled person who had had a terrible childhood and had managed to get back on his feet all by himself.

Yami gritted his teeth and kicked the desk.

The bed was temptingly soft and Yami hadn't noticed how tired he felt until now. His eyes itched and his body was limp. He hadn't been sleeping well and he was pretty sure he had lost some weight, too.

"Gah!" he yelped when his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket. Groaning, he reached for it and frowned when he saw who it was. "Yes?"

"Yami, you're not gonna believe this."

* * *

The stench made Yami want to gag. He couldn't look up, but the small pool of blood on the floor wasn't that pleasant to look at either.

"Fucking hell," Kaiba breathed next to him.

"Mother of god," Mai said from the other side. Yami was standing in between them and after shutting his eyes, he, too, looked up and pressed his lips together to make sure he wouldn't throw up.

A naked woman was hanging from the chandelier. Her dull eyes looked right past them, and her mouth hung open so a small amount of saliva covered her chin. The rope around her neck was so tight that there was still blood crawling through the tiny gaps. Her hands and feet were bound together and there was a small note taped to her chest that read, "Whore."

Mai had her hand clamped over her mouth and her eyes were filled with tears. "I've seen some heavy stuff over the past few years, but this… Oh my god. I-I need some air."

"I'm gonna get a blanket," Kaiba mumbled and Yami could hear the slight waver in his voice. "Untie her."

"Shouldn't we wait for—"

"Yami." Kaiba shot him a glare and he swallowed. "That woman has been humiliated enough already. I don't want an entire team seeing her like this. _Untie her._"

Both of them left and Yami took a deep breath to pull himself together. Within a few seconds he had snatched a chair from the kitchen, climbed up and started untying the rope around the chandelier. Kaiba came running back in with a blanket and waited for Yami to get her down. After Yami had managed to untie the tight knot with his trembling fingers, he quickly put his arms around the body to make sure it wouldn't fall. Her skin was as cold as ice and Yami almost forgot to breathe when he felt the icy liquid sticking to his neck.

"Here." Yami got down and laid her on the floor. Kaiba immediately put the blanket over her bare body and sat down on his knees. "Jesus. And to think a kid did this."

"Kid?" Yami echoed incredulously, trying to wipe off the blood of his face and neck.

"Yeah, we got the call from her husband and he said he could only watch as his daughter completely lost it. He was so in shock that it took him over two hours to pick up the phone and call us."

"What's her name?" Yami had jumped to his feet and felt another adrenaline rush.

Kaiba, who was still making sure the woman was fully covered up, mumbled, "Chris. Chris Hayashi."

Yami couldn't contain himself. "She was the volunteer Yugi Mutou picked for the opening of his show. He performed this weird trick on her and she looked confused and a bit dizzy afterwards."

They looked at each other for a moment and Yami tried his best to show his determination. Mai got back and was continuously running a hand through her messy blonde hair. Her face was wet and Yami guessed she had either cried really hard or that she had splashed some cold water in her face to hide it.

"Sorry about that," she said and loudly cleared her throat. She got out an elastic band and started tying her hair back. "This is getting out of hand. We need to pick up the pace."

"Tell me about it," Kaiba growled. "Yami's saying that Hayashi's daughter was at Mutou's show and that he did something to her."

"What?" Mai marched over to him and gripped his shoulders. "What happened?"

"She volunteered for one of his tricks and he…" Yami's face fell at Mai's disbelief. "He did this weird trick and made her disappear."

"You're wasting valuable time," Mai told him off and let go of his shoulders a little too roughly so he stumbled back. "He fooled you. That's his _job. _She didn't actually disappear."

"He did something to her!" Yami argued stubbornly and Kaiba shook his head at him. "I fucking swear, it's his doing! All these kids went to his show and they all ended up killing their loved ones. I have proof that every kid committed the crime _exactly _two weeks after they went to the show."

A deadly silence fell over them. Mai slowly looked at him over her shoulder, her eyes on red alert. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Hate to break it to you, genius, but you forgot one tiny little detail," Kaiba called out and Yami clenched his jaw at the mocking tone. "You saw Mutou performing this trick on Chris on the 12th, which was four days ago. Or am I that bad at counting?"

"No." Yami felt his stomach drop and he paled. "Maybe it's different this time. Or—"

"Or it's just a coincidence," Kaiba snapped and got up to his feet as well. "You know what? Tell me about the interview. Tell me that old man told you his grandson is the very reason why we're standing there. Tell me that a fucking magician who merely _outsmarted you _is the reason why a kid tied her father to a chair so he could watch her ripping her mother's clothes off and hanging her. Tell me that a guy who has at least _thousands _of alibies did this. _I dare you._"

Yami stared at his feet, feeling the blood rushing to his face. The kind man who had offered him a second chance was gone. An entire team of police officers and paramedics made their way into the living room and Kaiba started informing them right away. The body was wrapped in a black sack and within a few seconds, they were gone, but the horrible smell stayed. The whole time, Yami hadn't spoken up and wasn't going to.

"We should get going. Interview the husband and send people after that girl. Someone must have seen her running away."

People rushed past him while Yami remained nailed to the floor, completely and utterly defeated and humiliated.

* * *

**Author's note: **The plot thickens... Yep. I feel so sorry for Yami uwu  
See y'all next week and don't forget to leave a review on your way out~!


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: **ALMOST FORGOT TO UPLOAD DIZ. DMMD game is very distracting. Can't believe I've been playing it for three days straight, woops.

Thanks for all the reviews, here's the next chapter!

* * *

_Tokyo, Japan  
September 19__th__, day 40, 9:00 am _

The door closed with a small clickbehind him and Yami casually dropped his bag next to the chair he was supposed to sit on. Ishizu gave a slightly offended glance but didn't seem too bothered by his actions. With a small sigh, Yami plopped down onto the chair and grinned at her.

"You're an adult. Act like one," was the only thing Ishizu said, a hint of irritation slipping through her usual cool and neutral tone. A notepad was already on her lap, along with a pen and Yami saw his name, the date, and— "Let's get started."

Yami raised an eyebrow. She had pulled the notes up to her chest so Yami couldn't read the last sentence and now he couldn't hold his tongue any longer.

"What, am I not allowed to read what you write about me?"

"I'd rather not have you reading my notes," Ishizu replied simply and clicked her pen. "If it was of any importance to you, I'd let you know of course. For now, however, it's not important. It's just a small reminder I wrote down earlier."

"Smooth," Yami grinned again and leaned back against the chair. "Still curious, though."

"Like I said, you'll be informed if necessary."

They stared at each for a small moment in which Yami eyed her cautiously and tried to recall which letters he had seen, but she had reacted too soon. It was probably like she said: a small reminder for the kind of questions she was supposed to ask. Then again, maybe Ishizu had already "diagnosed" him (if there was a diagnosis to begin with) and was now looking for confirmation.

A cold feeling ran through his body at the thought. Maybe there was something wrong with him and Ishizu was now trying to figure out how to tell him. Or maybe Kaiba had told her about their conversation and she was about to tell him he was fired after all.

"Now, where did we leave off…?" Ishizu mumbled suddenly and started flipping through her notes. Her bright eyes roamed over the pages and Yami could merely watch as she pursed her lips and mouthed some things to herself. He knew _exactly _what they were going to talk about and he didn't want to go there again. "I believe you were about to tell me what happened the night your mother died."

And there it was. Yami clicked his tongue and looked away. "Do we really have to talk about that?"

"Have you ever talked about it with anyone?"

His father knew what happened, Mana knew what happened, and his school knew what happened so there wasn't anyone he could talk to. The principle had informed the teachers to let them know that Yami was probably not going to be himself for the upcoming semesters and Yami had tried to appreciate that, but he couldn't. No one asked, no one _dared _to ask and he was actually grateful for that.

Except for Anzu who had asked once and Yami had gotten so mad at her that it almost broke their friendship if it weren't for Anzu who had called him a few days later and apologized. For some odd reason, it was a lot easier to talk to her on the phone and Yami had blubbered out the whole story to her, and ever since, they never talked about it again.

"Once," Yami said quietly and ran a hand through his hair. "Never again."

"Do you regret talking about it?"

"Maybe."

Ishizu stayed silent for a while before her eyes softened. "It hurts too much, doesn't it?"

"I usually avoid talking about it because it won't get me anywhere," Yami answered quickly. "It's true that it hurts and that I tend to get lost in my own wordings, but I just… don't wanna talk about it. 'Twas a long time ago, I'm over it and have moved on with my life."

The pen in Ishizu's hand glided over the notebook and was writing everything down in short and swift movements. "Do you think about it everyday?"

"No." Yami was gritting his teeth now. "I avoid anything that has to do with her or her death. My father wanted to move out right away, and I don't think I ever went back to that house. I hated reliving those moments, we all did, and we try not to think about it."

"Reliving those moments?" Ishizu frowned and Yami felt his heart beating painfully against his chest. Clammy hands were shaking against his thighs and before he could do anything, images started flashing before his eyes. It was like watching an old movie, but he could still _feel _everything that had happened that night. Warm liquid splashing against his face, Mana crying her eyes out next to him, his father screaming, the pain in his back, the dull look on his mother's beautiful face and the sirens in the background. Yami was desperately trying to get up by holding onto the bookcase he had been smashed against, but he couldn't. There was a bright light, more screaming and sobbing—

"Tanaka-san?"

In less than a second, Yami was back in the room, his eyes itching and his breathing shallow. It had never been _that _bad. Most of the time, he could control it and push it away, but it had been so sudden and detailed that he could only sit there and watch it all happen again. Something warm trickled down his face and he quickly pretended to be tying his shoe to wipe away the stupid tear with his sleeve.

"Sorry. Spaced out for a bit," he mumbled and cleared his throat after he had shook his bangs out of his face and given her a charming smile. "You were saying?"

"You were experiencing flashbacks," Ishizu stated calmly.

It was useless to lie. She had seen enough and Yami could only nod in response and look down at his feet. "This is why I don't like talking about it."

"I see." More scribbling and Yami twitched at the sound. "You look pretty shaken up."

"S'okay. Haven't slept well in a couple of days. That's probably it."

Which was true. After the third murder, he had barely been able to sleep. All he could do was stare at the ceiling, completely exhausted, and hope he would get to sleep at least a couple of hours to make it through the next day. Very often Yami had to resort to coffee, but he knew that his body wouldn't be able to keep up the pace after a while.

"You do look tired," Ishizu said and smiled faintly. "Can't sleep at night?"

"Not really, no."

"Right." Ishizu was writing so fast at this point that Yami was having trouble keeping up with her hand. If he didn't know any better, she looked like a kid that had just found the cookie jar. "Why not?"

"I dunno!" Yami yelled, frustrated. Without thinking, he got up from the chair and slung his bag over his shoulder. "I'm leaving."

He had to get out of here. It was as if the walls were closing in on him and his head was spinning endlessly, making him feel drunk. His feet wobbled for a bit and he grabbed the back of the chair to make sure he wouldn't fall over. Ishizu was watching him closely, not saying anything, which only made Yami angrier. He half-expected her to stop him, or scold him, but she did neither.

Memories kept flashing in front of his eyes, plaguing him over and over again until there was an uncontrollable urge to scream and make a run for it. The bag fell to the ground and no matter how hard Yami tried to pick it up, he couldn't. It was as if his entire body was on fire, and that every muscle was twitching against his will. No longer could he distinguish reality from his memories and that was when Yami realized he was having a panic attack.

"Tanaka-san…"

Tears blurred his vision and Yami started clutching his head. Gritting his teeth, he slowly sank to the floor and sat on his knees, bending over. His heart was beating so fast that it hurt and he felt like he was going to throw up any second.

Very faint footsteps came closer until he felt a hand on his back. A small puddle of tears had formed itself on the floor and Yami pressed his chin against his chest, ashamed. The same hand gently kneaded his shoulder and he released a shaky breath, feeling the tears streaming freely down his cheeks.

* * *

"Are we gonna start seeing each other on a regular basis now?"

That was exactly the kind or remark Yami had expected out of him, so he went with it. "Yes."

"Hmm, I'm not complaining," Yugi said with a hint of a smirk and he placed his cheek in his palm, looking at him mischievously. "Even though you're annoying and stubborn, you're good company."

Yami rolled his eyes and shifted in his seat.

Maybe this had not been such a good idea after all. He had not been thinking clearly after his session with Ishizu and all he could do, was let his feet carry him around until he had gotten here. Plus, there was the fact that Yugi was not fully dressed yet and it was so very distracting that Yami could barely look him in the eye. Toned arms were exposed, along with a large part of his upper body, making Yami wish Yugi would just close those last three buttons.

"You sure left an impression on me, you know," Yugi continued quietly and looked up at him with a sincere smirk. "I mean, you'd fit perfectly in the BDSM community."

A rather unbidden sound spewed out of Yami's mouth and his jaw dropped. "_What?"_

"Your uniform, those handcuffs…" Yugi looked him up and down a few times with that same stupid smirk. "Looks like you came right out of a porno."

Blood rushed to his face and Yami awkwardly looked down at his dark blue uniform. Handcuffs dangled next to his legs, right next to his loaded pistol and his gloved hands reached for his tie to straighten it, even though it was highly unnecessary. His hat had slid forward a bit, its visor nearly covering up his glowing eyes. Yugi was enjoying every second of this while Yami wanted nothing more than to flip him off.

"That's not _my _fault."

"Oh, don't tell me you're _into _that kinda stuff?" Yugi burst out laughing and this time, Yami was sure his entire face was red. "I heard there's this book, number one bestseller in the world, that would quench your aching needs. 't Has all those kinky things in it and probably inspired a lot of people like you. What was it called again—?"

"I _have _to wear this," Yami quickly interrupted him before he continued. "It's the law."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious, 'cause I had _no idea. _So you're not denying you're a kinky little shit?"

Once again, it was getting out of hand. The only reason Yami had come here was because he was absolutely sure Yugi had somehow done something to Chris, but now they were talking about _kinks _of all things. He had to take the lead before Yugi could humiliate him even more.

"Not that my sex life is any of your business, but no, I'm not into that kind of stuff," Yami managed to bring out and cleared his throat. "I came here to talk about—"

"You sure about that?"

All of a sudden, Yugi was so close that Yami could almost feel his body temperature. His body automatically reacted by backing away and reaching for his pistol, but Yugi snatched his wrist and moved even closer so their noses gently brushed against each other. When Yami tried to get his hand back, there was a sharp tug and his eyes widened immediately as he was yanked forwards.

A muffled yelp lingered in the air before it died down and Yami felt himself going limp. The soft, inviting lips moving against his own were hypnotizing him, drawing him nearer, making him yearn for more. His heart fluttered happily in his chest, accepting the euphoric feeling while his stomach did many flips, roughly pushing away the alarming thoughts his brain was producing. A warm hand held his jaw, keeping him in place, but Yami didn't mind at all.

He was getting lost in the sweet kiss, wanting to savor the moment more than anything, hoping that it would never end. Yugi would pull back every few seconds, tilt his head and press their lips together once again, smiling into the kiss. Their breaths ghosted over their lips in between the kisses and Yami noticed he was starting to feel light-headed. The hand that had been holding his jaw moved down to his neck, then his collarbone and lingered on his chest, fingers absently playing with his tie.

It was almost too perfect to be real and when Yugi moved down to position himself between his legs, Yami finally realized what was going on. Another sound of protest echoed through the room, but was ignored. The kiss was getting more intense and Yugi pressed their bodies together, making it a lot harder to pull back.

"Is there a problem?" Yugi breathed against his lips, making goose bumps appear all over his arms and legs. "Didn't you want this?"

Before he could utter a response, their lips were smashed together again. His wrist was still stuck in Yugi's iron grip and his other hand was held captive by his own leg, which he couldn't move because Yugi was practically sitting on top of him. He was completely trapped and torn between staying to enjoy the_ very_ satisfying kiss and throwing Yugi off of him.

Teeth playfully gnawed his upper lip and Yami silently cursed himself for falling under Yugi's spell. An uncontrollable hunger came to life inside of him and, as if sensing his needs, Yugi let go of his wrist so Yami could wrap it around his neck to pull him closer. Throbbing lips touched over and over again until Yami was sure they would burst. Yugi's skin was incredibly soft beneath his fingertips, luring him in with its innocence, and he couldn't help but give in. Breathing was becoming harder and an overwhelming desire to let his emotions devour him was making it impossible to think straight. A strong pulse had developed itself between his legs and it wasn't until Yugi's hand travelled downwards and started unbuckling his belt when Yami finally found enough willpower to make it stop.

Quickly shifting in his seat, he placed his hand on Yugi's bare chest and pushed him away. His lips and body felt cold without the other's heat and he groaned, frustrated. Yugi let go of his wrist and got back on his feet, looking down at him, his face slightly flushed, eyes emotionless.

"Pity," the magician mumbled and wiped at his lips with the back of his hand. "You're obviously attracted to me, yet you can't make up your mind about it. That's really sad."

"You're way too arrogant to realize that I'm not," Yami countered, still trying to clear his cloudy mind. "It was just a kiss."

"You were completely into it, though," Yugi grinned and folded his arms over his chest. "If it had been "just" a kiss, you wouldn't have gotten so lost and your heart wouldn't have been hammering against your chest. I felt your hand trembling, your face getting all hot, your quickened breathing, the whole shebang. Not to mention you found it _arousing._ You need to learn to face the facts, kinda the most important skill you're still missing. One of the reasons you're not very good at your job."

Yami was pretty sure he was about to explode from humiliation and anger. He would be lying to himself if he said he hadn't been enjoying every second of that stupid kiss. It was the best kiss he had ever experienced, despite his previous relationships, because no one had ever poured so much passion into the simple action. Then, he realized that Yugi might… No, it couldn't be. Yugi was obviously toying with his feelings to embarrass him and Yami was slowly falling for his tactics.

"It's not like _you_ weren't into it. _You _kissed _me._"

"Oh, _god, _please don't turn this into some crappy rom-com movie," Yugi moaning, rolling his eyes and leaning against the table with his hip. "Like I said, face the facts. You're interested in me and can't control yourself. It's actually quite…" A small pause in which Yugi leaned forward and teasingly ran the back of his forefinger across Yami's cheek. "Cute. Never been in a relationship before? Wouldn't surprise me. You were always so quiet and stoic; not very appealing."

That woke Yami up. Their eyes met and for a few seconds, Yami almost saw right through the sparkly violet eyes. "You remember?"

Big mistake. Fury glittered in those violet eyes and Yami felt beads of sweat trickling down the back of his hot neck. Yugi raised his head and Yami saw a small twitch in his jaw. "How could I not? All those intriguing… _memories._"

Yami was beyond confused. He traced back his steps, trying to understand how the atmosphere could have changed drastically with only a few words. One minute they were practically making out, Yugi was embarrassing him and now Yami felt like he had just stepped into a very dark cave and was stuck. The way Yugi was looking down at him was creeping him out. The illusionist's eyes hadn't blinked once and seemed to have grown twice their size.

"Right," Yami murmured and got up from his chair so Yugi would no longer be looking down on him. "The only reason I came here—"

"You talked to Jii-chan," Yugi interrupted him quietly, his eyes still staring at him. Then, he oh so slowly tipped his head to one side, like a broken doll. "You still think I have something to do with those murders, don't you?"

"I do." Yami had no idea where this rush of courage came from, but he wasn't complaining. The situation was definitely starting to freak him out and he half-expected Yugi to pull out a knife and kill him on the spot. "Just needed some background info."

"So you went to see _him_ of all people?"

"Well, seeing that you're so defensive about the whole thing, I thought it would be a good idea to contact someone who's not as provocative."

Yugi's lips curled into a small smile and he let out a bitter chuckle. "… Okay."

"What did you do to Chris?"

The light above them started flickering. Yugi didn't appear to notice or simply ignored it. "What do you mean?"

The new rush of courage gave Yami another push. "That girl you called forward. You did something to her, didn't you?"

The flickering had grown worse and now Yami was having trouble looking at Yugi's face because it kept disappearing. There was an annoying buzzing noise in his ear and he tried to ignore it, but it only got louder. Yugi, on the other hand, was still standing in the exact same spot and his eyes remained cold. The buzzing got so loud that Yami gritted his teeth and pressed his hand against his ear.

"What's that noise?" he groaned and pressed harder, desperately trying to shut it out.

"What noise?"

It was maddening. Yugi's voice sounded so far away because of the constant buzzing and Yami was slowly developing a very bad headache. With his other hand he gripped the edge of the table and lowered his head. "What the hell is—?"

And then it was over. Yami's body relaxed and he let out a small breath of relief.

"Ah, Yami. One thing you should know," Yugi said as calmly as ever and started buttoning up his shirt. Then, he slowly looked back up at him, brushing his bangs out of his face with a sincere smile. "An illusionist never reveals his secrets."

Standing on his tiptoes, Yugi gave him one last kiss that lasted way too long and left the room. Yami felt his lips tingling and he tentatively ran a finger over them, feeling the swollen, throbbing skin brushing against his index. He stood there for a while, questioning his life and motives before he shook his head and pinched the skin around his wrist.

"… Fuck," he cursed, still pinching until his hand trembled and the area around his wrist turned completely red. "_Snap out of it._"

Something warm dripped down his hand and Yami quickly looked down and swore again. His thumbnail had created a small cut and now he was bleeding. Yami reached inside his jacket to get out a small handkerchief to clean his wrist, but ended up staring at the small, white cloth in his hand.

It definitely wasn't his. Rather dumbfounded, Yami searched his pockets with his other hand and after a while of fumbling, he found his own personal handkerchief. Laying his own one on the table, he started unfolding the white one and much to his surprise, a black thread fell out.

"…" It took a few seconds before Yami smacked his forehead and quickly bent down to retrieve it. It was the black thread he had found in the autopsy room and apparently he had completely forgotten about it. Right away, his eyes fell on Yugi's black cloak and he didn't even hesitate to march over to it and compare the two fabrics.

They were identical.

* * *

**Author's note:** Stop looking at me like that. I put Puzzleshipping in this chapter to make up for that beautiful cliffhanger! Don't hate me. xD

Please review!


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's note: **This chapter was surprisingly hard to write. O.o  
Prob'ly because it's about to get rather bloody, haaaahaaaaaa pun. No, but, seriously, you'll hate me. And that's okay, 'cause I hate me, too, and we'll start a club where we can all hate me. SOUNDS FUN, RIGHT?

Thanks again for your patience and reviews!

Enjoy!

* * *

Practically storming back into the department, Yami darted up the stairs. His sides ached from running, soft wheezes escaped from his lips with every step he took and his head was spinning, but he _had _to tell Kaiba. There was a big, fat chance that Kaiba would fire him on the spot, seeing that he was no longer allowed to blame Yugi for everything, but it just _couldn't _be a coincidence any longer. Yugi was the one who broke into their office not too long ago, even though Yami had no idea why he would do that in the first place.

All he needed was the exact time of the break-in and pay Yugi one last visit. The guy was constantly surrounded by people; surely _someone_ must have seen him leave that day.

As soon as Yami reached Kaiba's personal office, he slammed his shoulder against the door and was finally able to regain his breath.

"Kaiba," he panted and wiped the sweat off his eyebrow with his sleeve. "I— Huh?"

The room was empty. Yami blinked and looked around, dumbfounded. There were a couple of messy piles on his desk, along with his personal notes and half-empty cup of coffee. And when Yami's eyes fell on the chair that had been roughly pushed against the wall, he figured that Kaiba had been in a hurry.

"Great," he muttered and took a few steps back so he could close the door again.

"Excuse me," someone suddenly said, making Yami jump and turn around. "Are you looking for Kaiba-san?"

A tall woman was standing in front of him, holding a bunch of files. Her blonde hair was tied back into a high ponytail with white bow, giving her an innocent look. Curious green stared at him over the rim of her square-shaped glasses while Yami casually pretended to straighten his shirt.

She was not the only one who had noticed him barging in. Several people had looked up from their work to stare at him incredulously and were muttering things to their fellow colleagues.

"Uh, yeah. Do you know where he is?"

"He's in a meeting on the fourth floor. It was rather last-minute," the girl explained softly and shoved the glasses farther up the bridge of her small nose. "I _highly _suggest you wait till he's done because he seemed to be in a pretty bad mood."

"What else is new?" Yami said dryly, not in the least bit intimidated.

Much to his surprise, she giggled and shrugged. "Oh, well. At least I tried to warn you. See you around."

With a small wave, she went back to her desk and laid down the pile of files. Yami gave her a small, awkward wave before he decided to take the stairs. His poor heart had calmed down but was picking up the pace again. There was a gloomy atmosphere on the fourth floor and he didn't like it at all. It was awfully quiet as Yami looked for the nearest conference room.

He didn't even bother to knock.

The door swung open with a loud squeak, grabbing everyone's attention right away. Yami stood in the doorway, staring wide-eyed at the huge amount of people. Most of these were strangers to him and Yami could only guess they were from different departments. The only people he recognized were Mai, Otogi, Jounouchi, Malik from security and his beloved psychologist, Ishizu.

Kaiba, who stood at the head of the table, glowered at him. "Tanaka, no one invited you. Leave."

Everyone else remained silent and simply watched the two having a staring contest. Yami narrowed his eyes and reached for his pocket where he had put the two pieces of fabric. After he had carefully fished out the handkerchief and held it up.

"Trust me, you want to talk to me."

"If it's about Mutou again, I don't wanna hear it."

"If you would just listen to me for once, you'd realize that I'm not making this up!" Yami barked, earning a few mutters from their small audience.

"For the love of…" Kaiba rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes, looking beyond exhausted. "I really don't have time for that right now. Can't you see I'm busy?"

"You're not gonna tell me I can't even bother you for five minutes. You and I both know that's bullshit," Yami countered, not caring that he was putting everything on the line. It didn't matter anymore; Kaiba had threatened to fire him before, but even if Yami did lose his job, he'd continue to look for answers. They were _so _close that he could almost taste it and Kaiba was not going to take that away from him.

For some odd reason, it stayed silent. There had been a change of atmosphere ever since he interrupted their meeting. Every time people looked up at him, they averted their gaze right away, as if they were guilty of something. Even Kaiba hadn't really looked him in the eye and Yami felt his stomach drop upon realizing this. It made him nervous.

"… What's going on?"

Kaiba opened his mouth and then closed it again. No one said anything for a solid twenty seconds while Yami waited for an answer, the hand that was holding his precious proof trembling. Even Ishizu appeared to be having an internal battle and right at that moment, Yami completely lost it.

"Oi! _What is going on?!" _he yelled, his voice shaking.

Several of his colleagues winced at the loud outburst, but remained quiet nonetheless. It didn't soothe Yami's nerves at all, in fact, it pissed him off even more.

"I swear, if someone doesn't speak up—"

"Your father's body is missing."

It was as if time stood still. Yami was completely frozen from head to toe and merely stood there, his absent eyes on his boss. A surreal feeling took over his entire body. A strange sense of calmness coursed through his veins, but his fast heartbeat and clammy wrists ruined the illusion of feeling collected. There was no need to breathe anymore because the black hole in his chest would probably swallow it anyway. A familiar shiver ran down his spine, making goose bumps appear all over his arms and legs and somewhere in the far back of his head, something finally snapped.

People were casting worried glances in his direction as Yami slowly nodded and calmly left the room. It was as if someone else was steering his body. His legs moved to their own accord, to the nearest restroom where he closed the door behind him and continued to stare off into space.

However, hasty footsteps became louder and within seconds, he wasn't alone anymore. Kaiba appeared in front of him and held his shoulders.

"Yami…"

Said person released a small breath and cleared his throat. "So, _that's _why I wasn't invited."

"You need to understand that we're dealing with a psychopath," Kaiba said seriously. "This person knows what they're doing and we're constantly being outsmarted because of it. We know very little about this person, and don't know whether they have something to do with the murders or not. We arranged this meeting to exchange tactics because we'll never catch this guy if we don't do something fast."

"Or maybe he's simply necrophilic," Yami snorted bitterly and hung his head, snickering. "That'd be funny."

"I think it's best if I send you home—"

"No." Taking a few steps back so Kaiba was no longer touching him, Yami unfolded the handkerchief in his hand and pulled out the two black threads. "This is why I needed to talk to you. The first time someone broke in, they went to the autopsy room and left something behind."

Yami held up the right thread and twirled it around in his finger. "It was a piece of clothing. And here's the thing," he continued and looked back at Kaiba. "I compared it to the fabric of Yugi Mutou's cloak and they were a match. All the roads lead back to him and you can't deny that."

After sighing, Kaiba ran a hand over his face and shook his head. "It… That's not possible."

That was not exactly the answer Yami had been expecting. "What do you mean it's not possible?"

"I mean that the intruder didn't leave any traces. We checked every room, remember? You sure it's not _yours?" _

"Of course it isn't!" Yami exclaimed and clenched his jaw. "Someone had spilled water, shoved my notebook aside, and the black thread was _wrapped _around a handle. Unless I have a second personality that I'm unaware of, I don't see how _that _would make any sense. Besides, I wear a uniform all the time so it's impossible."

His boss kept looking away every few seconds and clutching the fabric of his pants between his fist. He probably felt sorry for Yami and didn't want to make it worse by yelling or getting angry at him, but Yami couldn't care less.

"Like I said, we couldn't find any trace of the intrusion and on top of that, nothing was stolen. It's highly unlikely that we missed all those things in the autopsy room. And I told you to leave Yugi Mutou out of this. He's not our guy," Kaiba explained as calmly as possible. "_Stop _obsessing over him."

"If you would just give me the exact times of the break-ins, then I can check—"

"I said _stop,_" Kaiba snapped, beyond annoyed now. "How many times do I have to tell you that Mutou will always have enough alibies? Okay, let's be hypothetical for a moment and say that he did steal the body. Don't you think someone would have seen _the famous_ Yugi Mutou carrying around something that's twice his size? Or are you suggesting he used his magical powers?"

Blood rushed to Yami's face and balled up his fist. "Stop mocking me."

"How else would you explain it?" Kaiba threw up his hands. "I really am sorry about the situation, but I can't allow you to make a fool out of yourself. It's best if I remove you from this case. You weren't ready to begin with and now you're all emotionally involved as well."

"Then you should remove yourself from the case as well," Yami shot back and folded his arms over his chest. "'Tis only fair, seeing that you haven't been the brightest ever since your brother tried to strangle you."

That was the final blow and Yami knew it. His fists were _itching _to punch something or someone and now that he had driven Kaiba to the edge, he had an excuse. Just like he had predicted, Kaiba grabbed his collar and slammed him against the door. Pain soared through his lower back and he gritted his teeth to keep himself from screaming.

"Shut your mouth," Kaiba whispered harshly and tightened his grip on his collar so the edges of his jacket scraped against his sweaty skin. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Admit that you have no idea what you're doing anymore," Yami bit back and flinched when Kaiba pressed him harder against the door. "You're just as emotionally involved as I am and that's why you can't solve this case. You'll never find Mokuba because you're too busy lying to yourself—"

_Wham. _

A fist was slammed into his cheek and Yami immediately took his chance to fight back. The disgusting taste of his own blood filled his mouth, a red hue covered his vision and before he could even give it a second thought, he threw himself at his boss to beat the shit out of him. His knuckles hit Kaiba's chin and Kaiba responded by kneeing him in the stomach, forcing the air out of him.

Grunts of pain and the squeaking of boots scraping over the tiles, filled the air as the two fought endlessly. Bruises were starting to appear on Yami's hands and face and his knuckles were already covered in small wounds, but it didn't stop him. With every punch, he felt a little bit better. The pain that coursed through his body was oddly soothing and made him feel in control. It didn't matter anymore; he just wanted to strike Kaiba with his fist over and over again until his arm would fall off.

At some point, tears of anger and frustration blurred his vision and made him vulnerable. Kaiba turned into a big black spot and blended in with his surroundings, causing Yami to lose his focus for a second. However, it fueled his anger even more and with a loud, hoarse scream, he raised his fist and aimed for the black blob for one final blow.

A loud crack resounded through the restroom and a deadly silence fell over them. Splinters of glass cut through his skin and fell down onto the floor as the mirror slowly fell apart. A single tear slid down his pale face as Yami tried to regain his breath. Kaiba had jumped out of the way just in time and was right next to him, panting as well. Droplets of blood moistened his hand and Yami slowly uncurled his fingers, staring at the palm of his hand with a blank expression.

It was as if he was yanked back into reality and had only now just realized what he had been doing. There were no excuses this time and he knew he deserved it to lose his job and never be allowed to walk through the doors of the headquarters ever again.

Very hesitantly, he looked over his shoulder at Kaiba who was wiping away the blood from his lips with the back of his hand. Yami opened his mouth to speak, to _apologize _for his behavior, but no sound came out. His throat felt raw and talking would surely hurt.

"Kaiba…" he managed to whisper, trying to keep eye contact.

"It was self-defense because I hit you first," Kaiba stated stoically and dusted off his clothes. "It was my fault. Now go."

"What?" Yami exclaimed, frowning in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about? I pushed you!"

"Leave."

"Kaiba, I—"

"_Now._"

It sounded demanding but there was a hint of desperation in his voice as well. Kaiba had stopped looking at him and was biting his knuckles, his lips quivering. The twinge of guilt in his chest grew with each passing second until it was large enough to consume his entire body. It was his fault that Kaiba had lost it and it hurt.

For the first time, Yami bowed to him. He had never showed any respect to him and refused to bow every time he demanded it, but now he wanted to. His hands trembled at his sides as he straightened up and he gave Kaiba one last glance before he left.

* * *

"My god, Yami…" Anzu mumbled as she ran her fingers over his injured hand. "I'd _just _taken the bandages off. What were you thinking?"

They were sitting on Yami's bed, surrounded by bandages, plasters, disinfectants and other stuff they could find in Anzu's first-aid kit. Ever since he lost Mana, Anzu had stayed home to keep an eye on him and even though they had fought over it, Anzu wouldn't budge. Yami felt like she babysitting him; asking him how he was doing everyday, if he wanted anything specific every time she went to the grocery store, forcing him to hang out with her… she was desperately trying to keep him on his feet and it was annoying.

As she was wrapping the bandages around his hand, Yami noticed she looked _drained. _Her hair was dirty, there were bags under her usual bright eyes, her skin was pale and to his horror, he saw that her clothes were too big. His eyes carefully scanned her body and saw that she had indeed lost weight.

He opened his mouth to ask her what was going on, but he already knew the answer. She had been so busy taking care of _him that_ she was suffering because of it.

"Anzu—"

"Can't talk while I do this," she quickly interrupted him and reached for the scissors. "Gimme ten seconds."

Yami tapped the bed with his free hand and watched her while she finished up his hand. After she was done, she patted his arm with a small smile and pulled back. "What's up?"

"You look terrible."

A little taken aback by this, Anzu tucked some of her hair behind her ear and looked at him nervously. "Girls don't _always _look cute, you know. I just didn't feel like dressing up today."

"Stop worrying about me," Yami said, ignoring her excuse. "It's my fault you're like this. Don't do this to yourself because I can't get a grip."

"And this is exactly why I'm worried." Anxiety glittered in Anzu's eyes as she gave him a look. "The way you deal with your problems is unhealthy. You _never _give yourself a chance to take a breather. You always tell yourself to suck it up and move on with your life. Why do you think I keep trying to get you to talk to me? You _never _talk about _anything." _

"That's not true," Yami argued and gripped the sheets.

Anzu snorted bitterly. "Oh, right. How could I forget?" she folded her arms over her chest and glared daggers at him. "That _one _time I called you and you told me what happened on the night your—"

"Don't," Yami snapped and looked down at the sheets. He knew _exactly _what she was going to say and didn't want to go there. Not today, not after what Kaiba had told told him.

But it was too late. Memories of him crying on the phone flashed in front of his eyes and Yami groaned, tightening his grip on the sheets until his knuckles turned white. Fortunately, before he could get sucked in, Anzu placed her hands on his shoulders and squeezed them gently.

"When will you start to realize you don't have to do everything on your own?" she whispered, one tear trickling down her cheek. "You're not okay and it's _fine _that you're not. It literally _hurts _to see you falling apart more and more everyday. This job is killing you and you don't even realize it! Or maybe you're punishing yourself because you think it's your fault that…" she swallowed and Yami's eyes widened.

"… I gotta go."

Yami got up from the bed and was about to leave, but Anzu grabbed his elbow in an attempt to stop him. Her grip was weak, as if she was somewhat hesitant, and it made his stomach do a couple of flips. The trembling fingers against his bare skin, the uneven breaths, the smell of salty tears and finally… a sob.

Taking a deep breath, Yami turned around and saw a hunched up Anzu, her face flushed and tears streaming freely down her cheeks. Quiet whimpers escaped from her dry lips as she let go of his arm and covered her face. Her shoulders shook while she cried silently into her hands, oblivious to Yami watching her. The sight was so very frightening and heartbreaking that Yami wanted nothing more than to hug her and comfort her, but he couldn't. He psychically _couldn't. _

"I don't wanna lose you," Anzu whispered quietly after she had dropped her hands, revealing her wet face. "You're my best friend and you-you mean so much to me. Ever since you started working on this case, you haven't been yourself and it's tearing me apart. I'm so _scared _all the time."

More tears rolled down her face and she quickly wiped them away, sniffling. "Just… stay. I want you to stay tonight."

"I _have _to go see him," Yami blurted out and Anzu shut her eyes in response. "Look, I'm sorry, but if it turns out I'm right, we'll be able to arrest that asshole and it'll all be over!"

"Yami, you don't even know if it's him!" Anzu shot back, anger burning in her bloodshot eyes. She slowly got up from the bed and stood in front of him, her lips quivering. "If you keep going like this, you'll get hurt."

"You're starting to sound like Kaiba."

"Well, maybe Kaiba's right. Has that thought ever occurred to you?"

"He's not thinking straight."

"Neither are you! You're in over your head and refuse to acknowledge it! I'll _cuff_ you to the bed if I have to because you're _not _leaving!"

The fact that she was practically quoting Kaiba, infuriated him. But he couldn't afford to fight with Anzu, too since he was already beyond exhausted and still had to go back to Tokyo. So, instead of throwing a remark right back at her, Yami held up his hands in defeat and nodded. Anzu, clearly confused, stared at him for a few seconds before she sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"You'll stay?" she breathed against his neck.

"I'll stay."

It wasn't the first time Yami had ever broken a promise, but he still felt guilty for leaving Anzu behind. They had been sitting on the couch, watching one of their favorite movies, and after an hour or so, Anzu had fallen asleep. Using her arm as a pillow, she was curled up on her side, sleeping soundly. Yami carefully picked up her legs, which were draped over his own and placed them back on the couch. After laying a blanket over her, he left.

Since it was around eleven at night, Yugi had probably finished his performance, which was why he had to get there as soon as possible. And because he had been so careful not to wake Anzu, he had forgotten his car keys in the kitchen and cursed himself for it when he paid the taxi driver.

Still, it looked like he had come just in time. He was practically invisible between the people who were too busy to talk about Yugi's performance as he made his way into the building. No one noticed him, not even the security guards at the front doors, and Yami gladly took advantage of it.

After a few minutes of walking around aimlessly, Yami found the auditorium, went backstage to look for Yugi's room, but had to keep himself from falling over when he unexpectedly found the person he was looking for.

Yugi was standing in front of his room, taking off his cloak. As soon as Yami's eyes fell on the cloak, his chest tightened.

"Mutou-san!"

He quickly hid behind the wall at the sound of the new voice. He took a furtive look and saw the stage manager running towards Yugi, waving his arm frantically.

"Yeah?"

"There's still some people who want your autograph and take your pictures. Do you have a sec?"

A small smile appeared on Yugi's flushed face. "Sure."

Yami kept following them with his eyes until they were out of sight and opened the door to Yugi's room. He wasn't sure what he was going to look for, or if he was going to find anything in the first place, but he was determined to find _something. _And if Yugi came back, they would have a nice, long talk, anyway. Of course it was possible that Yugi was completely innocent and had absolutely nothing to do with anything, but it was too late to go back now.

However, after rummaging through his personal belongings for a few minutes, Yami found himself panicking. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary, not even some sort of journal, or personal notes. The only things he had found were his clothes, some old books, his stupid wand (Yami had resisted the urge to snap it in two), a couple of dried out pens and two packs of gum.

"Shit…" Yami mumbled to himself and scrubbed his face with his hands. "I'm _so _stu—"

Footsteps.

Freezing on the spot, Yami listened closely and felt his heartbeat in his throat when the pounding became louder with each step. Yugi could walk in any minute and he would see the horrible mess Yami had created. The room looked like a bomb exploded in it and, granted, Yugi would have enough reasons to sue him.

He frantically looked around and felt his jaw dropping when his eyes fell on the wooden closet. Hidden behind the tall, square-shaped object was a small opening. The golden handle stuck out like a sore thumb and Yami couldn't believe that he had looked over it.

"Great show tonight, Mutou-san!"

"Thanks," Yugi chuckled. "See you tomorrow!"

Yami was too busy trying to shove the big closet aside to listen to the muffled voices. Every inch brought him closer to finding out what Yugi was hiding; maybe it would lead him to the missing kids or maybe… maybe Mana was there. The thought gave Yami a new burst of energy and with one final push, he came face-to-face with a white door.

"Oh, really? You thought that was my best trick so far?"

With a small sigh, Yami placed a trembling hand on the doorknob and, fortunately, it was open. It revealed a wooden staircase that led to some sort of basement, or at least, that was what it looked like. There was nothing else there; just the stairs and another door. He quickly closed the door behind him and noticed that the voices instantly died down. His heart, that was about burst out of his chest, pounded in his ears and made him dizzy, but it was almost impossible that this door could block out those loud voices.

Yami shook his head at the thought of pressing his ear against the wall; there was no time. The steps creaked loudly under his boots, so he practically ran down the stairs and opened the other door.

The lights were turned on instantly and Yami squinted at the sudden brightness. He was standing in a large room, which was completely empty, except for a wooden chair that was right in the middle. The walls were dark red, very close to a blood color and it made Yami feel rather nauseous.

"What is this place…?"

Without really thinking, he walked over the chair and frowned when he saw a piece of rope draped over its back. Sweaty fingers reached for the small piece and Yami felt his knees going weak when he saw there was blood on it.

"Well, it sure took you long enough."

Before Yami could turn around, something heavy collided with his head and his vision went black.

* * *

**Author's note: **HA. Didn't see that one coming, did you? :DDDDD

So, since it's been a while, I'll upload the next chapter on Sunday, 'cause I feel reeeeaaaalllly bad for taking forever.

… Let the fun begin.

Please don't forget to review!


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note: **As promised, here's the next chapter! We're about half-way and that's also why things are gonna get pretty dirty, woops.

Thanks for the reviews, you fab people!

**Warning: **Heavy violence, blood and gore. Just a heads up!

* * *

_Tokyo, Japan  
September 21th, day 42, 5:27 pm _

"Kaiba, I need to talk to you."

Said person turned to Ishizu with an annoyed look. "I don't have time for you right now. Yami's been missing for two days and we—"

"That's what I wanted to talk about," Ishizu interrupted him and urgently tugged at his arm. "It's important."

"Make it quick." Kaiba was unwillingly dragged to Ishizu's office and blinked when he saw the huge amount of papers on her desk. Most of them contained Yami's name or photos of him and he got a nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach. "You went through his files?"

"I had to. He wasn't telling me anything and I needed something to confirm my suspicions."

Ishizu closed the door behind her and leaned against it with her shoulders. The concern in her eyes was giving away her emotions and Kaiba merely stood there, not sure what to think. He knew damn well that something was wrong with Yami, but the way Ishizu was looking at him made him rather nervous.

"Did he tell you that his mother died fourteen years ago?"

"When his father was murdered, he mentioned something about him being his only parent, so I figured it out on my own," Kaiba answered, not liking where this was going.

"All right," Ishizu sighed and ran a hand through her straight hair. "He told me she just… died, but I could clearly see that he was lying. I decided to leave that matter alone until Sato-san reported to me that he had hit a bookcase exactly fourteen years ago. Don't you think that's odd?"

"Well, since you've called me here, I'm gonna go ahead and say yes," Kaiba retorted and folded his arms over his chest. "And so you went ahead and went through his files?"

"_You _wanted me to help him and this was the only way," Ishizu pointed out sharply and put her hands on her hips. "Those session with him aren't getting me anywhere. Most of the time he avoids my questions or gives half-assed answers and I can't work with that. If I'd seen something incredibly personal, I wouldn't have told you anyway. This, however, is crucial information that you need to know and, most importantly, answered all of my questions."

"Will you spit it out already?!" Kaiba raised his voice and slammed his hand on her desk. "So you've finally diagnosed him! Tell me."

"His mother was _murdered _fourteen years ago."

Kaiba's jaw dropped. The words were so casually thrown at him that he was completely taken aback. "… H-how? What—?"

"He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder."

"Ishizu—"

"He willingly answered my questions when I casually asked about the symptoms. He suffers from insomnia, numbness, I can tell that he's worried all the time, he drifts off a lot, _avoids _my questions about his mother and told me they also moved when his mother died, experiences flashbacks unwillingly, and on top of that, he had a panic attack during our last meeting," Ishizu continued, ignoring him. Then, her eyes fell on the files. "Fourteen years ago, his mother was brutally murdered right in front of him. He tried to save her, but the murderer threw him against the bookcase, hence the scar on his back. The murder was reported to the police, but they never found the culprit. Why do you think he desperately wants this job, Kaiba?"

It was as if all the pieces of the puzzle he had wanted to put together so badly were finally put into place and he could see the whole picture now. Yami had always been quite jumpy, but the more he focused on this case, the more he started falling apart. It had been right in front of him all this time, and he hadn't even seen it.

"I…" he spoke lamely and stared at the files. "Shit."

"He wants to find the murderer and I don't think he will stop until he's found the man who ruined his life," Ishizu further explained and Kaiba wanted her to stop talking because he was starting to feel horrible. "He _needs _Yugi Mutou to be his suspect. _Desperately._ It's the only thing that's keeping him going at this very moment. He finally found someone — even though that person is probably innocent and doesn't have anything to do with the case — to blame."

It made a lot of sense, yet so very little. Kaiba gnawed on his lower lip and ran a hand through his messy bangs. "How come he didn't know? He _studied _these things for fuck's sake!"

"Or maybe he didn't care."

"That's beyond sick," Kaiba growled and for the first time, some emotion slipped into Ishizu's eyes. "That would mean he's trapping himself in some dark, twisted nightmare and _keeping _himself there while being fully aware of it. He's done some stupid things, but I don't think he'd let himself suffer like that."

"Well," Ishizu sighed and took a seat behind her desk. Keeping her eyes on the files, she started to shove them towards the middle so she could pile them up. "I personally think it's become worse _because _he has been working on this case. Maybe it hadn't bothered him that much until now, but now that he's surrounded by all kinds of triggers, it got worse."

"… Jesus Christ."

"I've talked to rape victims with the exact same symptoms," Ishizu said and there was a slight tremor in her voice. "They were completely fine, but the _minute _I slipped in the word "sex" or "rape" they'd be a complete mess. In Tanaka's case, he's been storing all those memories for fourteen years in the back of his head, locking them away so they wouldn't bother him. Because of his disorder, those memories are linked to heavy emotions, so it's only natural he doesn't want to talk about it."

Ishizu got up and placed her long fingers on the edge of her desk, looking up at him with a small frown. "He's not a idiot, Kaiba. I'm pretty sure Tanaka's fully aware of the fact that he needs all the help he can get and constantly makes sure he doesn't let anyone in."

Sensing the huge wave of guilt about the crash into him, Kaiba straightened up. "We _have _to find him."

* * *

Everything hurt. Yami was retching and coughing up more blood. His dry throat was aching for some water and his cracked lips were burning. He looked up at Yugi with nothing but hate and burning anger. Yugi, on the other hand, appeared to be more than satisfied with his actions and gently stroked the knuckles he had just used to punch Yami's jaw.

"Son of a bitch," Yami managed to breathe out.

Yugi smiled and brought their faces closer together. "I'm not the one who's accusing people here. Just trying to get some sense back into that cloudy head of yours."

Something wet was forced into his mouth and after that, a cloth was wrapped around his head, stretching his lips and cheeks to the point where Yami was sure it would tear. The more he struggled, the more it hurt and his breath hitched when a cold hand touched his neck for a moment, sending multiple shivers down his aching body. His eyes widened when he felt that Yugi was wrapping his very own tie around his neck. Before he could even stop himself, he started screaming uncontrollably, but his voice got cut off as the tie dug into his skin and prevented him from breathing.

His eyes nearly bulged out and he squirmed like a dry fish on land, wiggling his fingers and repeatedly hitting the chair with his back. Breathing was becoming impossible and it hurt so badly that he could feel the burning tears threatening to spill.

"Quiet," Yugi whispered harshly behind him and gave another rough pull. "If you continue to keep screaming like that, it'll annoy me. You don't want that."

Yami couldn't scream anymore even if he wanted to. The blood pounded in his ears, his head throbbed painfully and stars had started dancing in front of his eyes. Just when he thought he was going to lose consciousness, Yugi let go of the tie and Yami choked, trying to breathe as much through his nose as he could. His neck felt raw and it was as if he could still feel the tie there. He tried to hide his face when he felt the tears of panic starting to escape from his, but Yugi grabbed his sore jaw, making him yelp into the cloth and looked him dead in the eye.

"There's no blood on my hands. Got that?" Yugi's eyes sparkled for a moment and then his lips curled into a smirk. "Crybaby. You're not even half the man I thought you were."

"…!" The only sound Yami could produce was a small wheeze and he regretted it right away. His stomach did a few flips and he felt like he was going to throw up again.

"Now that I think about it, I'm actually glad we didn't end up together," Yugi continued and Yami looked up with a small frown. "Don't tell me you don't _remember?" _

Confusion took over and Yami blinked up at him, not sure where he was going with this. Nothing had ever happened between them, except for that kiss, and why the fuck was Yugi bringing it up _now? _Even in his current state, Yami couldn't help but be curious.

"That," Yugi began and Yami stiffened immediately when he saw Yugi raising his fist again. "hurts."

The hand collided with his jaw and this time, he heard a loud, echoing _crack. _The bone shifted and the horrible, sour taste of blood filled his mouth. The cloth was ripped out and he spit out the sticky liquid, feeling it dripping down his wet chin. He tried to swallow the remaining saliva and blood and licked his cracked lips with a shaky sigh. Talking had become a hard task and he didn't want to take another risk of throwing up again. His body was already trembling, in desperate need of food and water, and he was pretty sure that the amount of blood loss was causing enough damage already.

"High school, year two," Yugi put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed hard enough to make him wince slightly. "One week after our finals."

Yami slowly looked away as he tried to remember. One week after their finals must have been somewhere in May or June when he was hanging out with Anzu at the time and was probably somewhere in the locker hall. Letting himself go in the flashback, he saw himself leaning against the walls with his shoulder while talking to Anzu about their plans for the weekend. Anzu was telling him about an upcoming birthday party of her mother and Yami was about to tell her a story about Mana wanting to drag him to the swimming pool when someone approached them.

It was a guy from another class who was known to be quiet and a tad bit creepy because he always looked down and was sending off this awful vibe. For the first time, Yami noticed the guy was only a little bit shorter than him and had long, dark eyelashes.

Anzu had moved out of the way and was watching with caution as Yami was almost pressed against the lockers. The strange student merely stood in front of him and Yami blinked when he looked up for the first time.

"Can I talk to you?"

A big pair of haunting violet eyes stared up at him. Eyes that had seen way too much, just like his. The light had nearly died in them, but there was a small sparkle that was desperately trying to keep everything from collapsing.

"S-sure," Yami brought out with an awkward smile. "Everything okay?"

"Oh, yes," the other brought out with a shy chuckle. "But I was wondering if we could go somewhere more private?"

Quickly glancing over at Anzu and giving her a look, Yami tried not to appear too intimidated. Anzu shrugged and motioned for him to follow his fellow student to an empty classroom. Yami quietly shuffled behind him as they started walking towards the stairs, trying to think of reasons why "that weird kid from class 2-A" wanted to talk to _him_, of all people. He was nothing special, on the contrary, he was a pretty basic student who didn't cause any trouble and was always the one who barely passed his tests.

"This looks okay."

Yami almost jumped and looked up to see the guy pointing at a door that had been left open. He nodded and followed him inside, half-expecting the other to tackle him to the ground.

"So, what's up?" Yami inquired with a lopsided grin. For the first time, he looked at the student, _really _looked at him.

The kid was obviously very skinny, seeing that his uniform was way too big on him, his face was ghostly pale and he looked a little wobbly. His long, blond bangs did a good job on hiding his eyes whenever he looked down and Yami saw a small amount of freckles around his nose. A natural rosy color was on his round cheeks still, but his lips were awfully dry.

Violet eyes looked up at him again, almost catching him, and Yami felt the urge to run. "Do you, by any chance, know who I am?"

Oh no, Yami thought, shutting his eyes. _Shit, shit, shit._ "Sorry, I don't."

"Mutou, Yugi Mutou," the student said with a faint smile. "Jii-chan used to watch you and your sister."

"Oh…" Yami murmured absently and then his jaw dropped in realization. "Oh! You're the grandson he talked about all the time."

The smile on Yugi's face widened. "Yeah, I currently live at the Gameshop. My parents got divorced a while ago and he offered to take my mom and I in. So, we're sort of neighbors."

Shit, shit, shit,_ shit_. "Ah. Right, right…"

"Anyway," Yugi waved it off and clasped his hands behind his back. "I thought you should at least know who I am before I tell you."

Still silently cursing himself, Yami managed to smile. Maybe Yugi was simply trying to make small talk and become friends, but Yami wasn't exactly sure what to do. Now that Yugi had finally talked, Yami could easily tell he was just a very shy and timid kid who probably didn't know how to talk to people. Then, much to his dismay, Yugi's cheeks became red.

"I know that this is very sudden and that we don't talk very often, hell, I don't think we've ever talked, and I'm not even sure if you'd be interested in the first place because you always hang out with Mazaki-san, but I've been watching you and… think you're really cool," Yugi started rambling and Yami's eyes widened, not liking where this was going. "I don't wanna pry or hurt you, but sometimes you look so sad and I wanna help you out or talk to you since I've also had my own experience with depression. Most people don't understand what it's like and avoid you because they think it's contagious or they simply don't know what to say. And I think that's unfair because I want you to happy— I-I mean, everyone deserves to be happy and so do you, because… because you look really handsome when you smile and your laugh is really great."

Yugi had never looked so happy. The usual dead look in his eyes was now replaced with euphoria and the exciting smile lit up his entire face. He looked so much younger, like a _teenager, _not like someone who had already lost faith in life. Even though Yami didn't even know him, it almost hurt to see him like this.

"So I guess what I'm trying to say is that…" Yugi mumbled, the blush on his face darkening, and Yami wanted nothing more than to drop off the face of the earth. "I like you, Tanaka-kun."

An involuntary sound came out of Yami's mouth and he felt the blood rushing to his face. "O-oh."

Yugi clenched his schoolbag and kept looking at his feet, like he had been ever since he started his confession. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have cornered you like this."

"No, no, it's fine!" Yami quickly spoke up, waving his hands in front of his face. "I just… Oh, wow."

This had _never _happened before. How was he supposed to react? They didn't even _know _each other. Yugi was patiently waiting for him to speak up while Yami was having a fight with himself because he had no idea what to say or do. He wasn't even sure if he could fall for another guy, let alone fall for Yugi. Plus, it was probably not a very good idea to be in a relationship since he had to take care of his father and Mana. He didn't have time to be running around, acting all lovey-dovey with someone he barely knew. Yugi would get hurt.

"I'm sorry," Yami lamely apologized and bowed his head, not daring to look Yugi in the eye. "I'm flattered…"

"It's okay." Yugi's voice had grown stoic again and Yami looked up in fear, feeling his heartbeat increasing when he saw that the little light in Yugi's eyes was now gone. Nonetheless, there was a smile on his face, even though it was far from genuine. "I understand."

"Yugi…" Yami clasped his hand over his mouth. He shouldn't have called him by his first name. "I mean, I'm sorry. I'm dealing with a lot right now and—"

"You don't have to explain." The words felt like knifes in his chest. "Like I said, I shouldn't have cornered you like this. I'm sorry. I gotta go."

Yugi slung his bag over his shoulder and Yami could merely watch him leave. Right at that moment, Anzu came running up the stairs and Yami turned around the corner to see Yugi walking in the opposite direction, his chin pressed to his chest. The guilt was already eating him alive, but it was better this way.

"Yami! I was starting to get worried," Anzu breathed when he was out of sight. "Are you okay? I thought he had kidnapped you, or something. He's so creepy, I don't trust him."

Yami frowned. "You don't even know him."

"Why are you defending him?" Anzu looked beyond confused.

He wasn't creepy, at all. Yugi was depressed and quiet and didn't know anyone here because he had to move when his parents got divorced. That was all Yami knew before he broke his heart.

"Yes, and the entire school knew by the end of summer break," a voice shook him out of his memories. "People laughed at me everyday."

The pain in his face, chest and everywhere returned and Yami shut his eyes. Anzu had told a friend who had been a stupid blabbermouth and told everyone. "Fuck."

"So you finally remembered."

Their eyes met and Yami found himself not able to grasp onto the fact that Yugi Mutou, the same shy, depressed teenager who had confessed his love to him in such a humble manner, was now standing in front of him with the most sickening grin he had ever seen. Not only had he crushed his heart six years ago, it had been completely wiped off his memory as well.

"I am so sorry," Yami barely whispered, hanging his head and feeling blood trickling down his lips. "I can't believe… that was you."

"Oh, right, _now _you feel sorry for me because you're scared of me," Yugi snarled and grabbed the back of his head, coming closer until their noses almost touched. Dark violet eyes shone with passion and anger. "Asshole."

"You have no idea what I was going through!" Yami yelled hoarsely and struggled against the ropes once again.

"Quit your whining." Yugi shoved his face back and Yami groaned in pain. "You know damn well that you didn't want me because you thought I wasn't good enough for you."

"I never thought that," Yami replied and it was the truth. "I didn't want to hurt you."

The illusionist narrowed his eyes and Yami felt his heart drop when a very sharp looking knife was pulled out of the other's pocket. The silver object was at least ten inches and Yami felt his body going stiff when Yugi teasingly ran an elegant finger across the edge. "Of course you didn't."

"Is this your revenge? Beating me up because I rejected you in high school?" Yami panted, trying to ignore his upset stomach. "Look, I'm sorry that I broke your heart but you gotta understand that I was in a very tight spot and couldn't afford to be in a relationship with someone at the time."

Talking hurt. It was as if there was an iron bar tightly wrapped around his chest and his breathing was completely out of control. If he didn't do something about it soon, he would probably start hyperventilating. More adrenaline pumped through his veins, causing his entire body to tremble and it got worse when he saw that Yugi was advancing towards him with that knife still in his hands. Every step echoed through the large room and Yami tried his best to stay as calm as possible, but his body wouldn't allow it.

_Flex._ Yami cried out in pain as the knife was planted into his thigh. The cold metal twisted and he could only scream as hot, burning pain shot through his entire body and made his head spin. Gritting his teeth and panting heavily, his body went limp and he bent over. It was as if the knife had sucked his last bit of energy out and as Yugi pulled it out, he could only groan and hiss. Warm blood oozed from the wound and seeped through his clothes. The pain was so intense that his upset stomach did a few more flips and this time, he couldn't keep it in anymore.

Acid matter made its way up to his throat, past his lips and with an uncontrollable yelp, Yami's body forced itself to bend over as he threw up whatever was still left in his empty stomach. Warm tears leaked out of his eyes while he could only watch the remaining content dripping onto the floor. He coughed a few more times and hung his head in defeat.

"The human body has its limits," Yugi's voice murmured above him and Yami managed to shakily raise his head. "I should get you some water."

Before Yami could stammer out a reply, Yugi turned on his heel and walked out the door. His body shuddered and he sighed when more tears streamed down his sweaty cheeks. Even though he was beyond exhausted, both mentally and psychically, Yami could still connect the dots. The door was slammed shut and he released the loud sob he had been holding in all along.

Yugi didn't want him dead yet.

* * *

**Author's note: **... So yeah, there it is. Lots of info and other stuff. WE'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE.

Next chapter will be up next week~

Please review!


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note: **Moaaar updates, yes.

Thanks for your lovely reviews!

**Warning: **Heavy violence, blood and gore.

* * *

With a small groan, Yami opened his eyes and frowned when he saw a dark colored floor and a pile of his belongings not too far from where he was sitting. The neat pile consisted of his jacket, handcuffs, hat, pistol and boots and Yami could only stare at it as if it was going to eat him.

Wait— Yami tried to stand up, but found himself trapped in an uncomfortable, wooden chair. His wrists and ankles were bound to the arms and legs of said chair, making him practically immobile.

And all of a sudden, he remembered everything.

As if on cue, the nerves in his body instantly came back to life and he could feel everything again. Painful throbbing in his thigh, his sore jaw, the dried blood on his face, his raw throat and empty stomach that was begging him to be fed. Yami licked his dry lips and closed his eyes for a few seconds, trying to think.

The only things he could move were his fingers and his neck. Hunger and blood loss had made his body weak and his supplies were too far away. The only thing he could do was call for help, but Yami was pretty sure he was in some kind of basement where no one could hear him scream. Yugi had already proven that by continuously hurting him until he couldn't talk properly anymore.

"Good, you're awake."

Completely startled, Yami looked up and saw Yugi sitting across from him with his legs folded over one another. Had he been sitting there all this time? Surely, Yami would have seen him, but maybe he had been so disoriented that he hadn't noticed.

There was some sort of plastic vase in his hand with a handle attached to it and Yami wasn't sure whether he wanted to know what that was. He half-expected Yugi to stand up and hit him with it, but the magician simply smiled at him.

"Sleep well?"

His fatigued mind couldn't analyze the situation at all, so instead of answering right away, Yami stared at him, dumbfounded. "I guess."

"Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

Maybe Yami was hallucinating. This Yugi couldn't be the same person who had tortured him for the past couple of days. It just _couldn't. _This Yugi was smiling so calmly at him, moving his foot to an imaginary beat and patiently waiting for him to answer. Yami nodded and tried to move again, but the moment he tried, Yugi practically flew up and pressed him back against the chair with such force that the air was knocked out of him.

"Silly," Yugi laughed softly and Yami felt an unpleasant shiver running down his spine. "Not like that."

Yami tried to swallow the lump in his throat as Yugi started unbuttoning his pants. The plastic object was laid aside for a moment and much to his displeasure, he saw that it was a chamber pot. It surely wasn't the first time he had to do this in front of him, but it was still horrible. A teasing breeze brushed over his exposed skin and an involuntary yelp escaped from his lips as the rim of the pot was shoved against him. It was the most horrible and humiliating thing he had ever done in his entire life and he _knew _that Yugi knew that. Biting his lip, he held his breath as he emptied his bladder while Yugi gently stroked his bare knee.

"Good boy," he said after Yami was done. As if taking care of his sick spouse, Yugi lovingly buttoned up his pants again and tucked in his shirt, patting his chest. "Anything else you need?"

It was almost too surreal. Yami looked down at him with moist eyes and tried to formulate words, but he couldn't.

"'Twas not so bad, was it? Come on, man up," Yugi chuckled and roughly rubbed his wounded thigh, making Yami cry out in pain. The friction had caused the wound to spring open again and Yami felt the burning tears welling up in his eyes. "If only you'd kept your nose out of other people's business, none of this wouldn't have happened and you wouldn't be sitting here, sulking over the fact that you had to pee in a cup."

"Fuck you," Yami muttered, knowing he would regret those words later yet he couldn't bring himself to shut up.

"Eager, are we?" Yugi grinned up at him and rose to his feet. For a minute, Yami feared the worst and shut his eyes, ready for the blow, but let out a small huff instead because Yugi had straddled him. The pain in his wounded thigh increased as Yugi moved slightly to get comfortable and he groaned quietly. "Fine."

A sharp intake of breath echoed through the room as Yugi smashed their lips together. He could barely move as the other kissed him hungrily, biting down his cracked, lower lip and gently kneading his chest. Yami pulled back, but Yugi roughly grabbed his chin and forced him back into the kiss. The hand that had been massaging his chest moved down and Yami tried his best to close the gap between his legs, making Yugi laugh against his neck.

"You're so cute…" he whispered and slipped a hand down his waistband. "Stop struggling so much. We both know you want this."

He didn't want to— Not like this. This was something so utterly disgusting and messed up that it made him want to hurl. Yugi obviously didn't care and only continued to make him see stars and arch up.

"Get-off!" Yami gasped out and was about smack his forehead against the other's in a desperate attempt to get away, only to be interrupted by a small buzzing noise.

Both men looked around, looking for the source of the sound, before Yami's eyes fell on his jacket in the corner and saw his pocket moving. His eyes widened upon realizing his phone was still there. They probably hadn't heard it before because of their previous actions, Yami's foggy mind reasoned hastily. Yugi reluctantly got up and walked over to his jacket, fishing out the phone and looking at the screen.

This could be his only chance of escaping. Yugi marched back towards him, grabbed his collar and hurled him forward. "Kaiba's your boss, right?"

"No, he's just a friend," Yami blurted out and prayed Yugi would believe him.

However, Yugi didn't seem to buy it and gripped his thigh again, making him groan. "You've got no friends or family left. Except that Anzu Mazaki chick who couldn't keep her stupid mouth shut. Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

How Yugi knew he had no family left was a complete mystery to him, and it freaked him out even more. The phone was still buzzing; there was not much time left. Maybe Kaiba would give up and all hope would be lost. So, Yami nodded quickly and Yugi straightened up, holding up the phone.

"Do exactly as I say, all right?" Yugi said calmly. "If he asks you about your whereabouts, tell him you quit your job and that you're travelling. You've had enough of this job because you're not good at it, you cut ties with Anzu because she's annoying, you don't want him or her to contact you ever again, and then I'm gonna hang up. If you don't stick to these lines, or make _any_ effort to let him know you're here, I'll make sure that you wish you were never born, got it?"

"I—"

Yugi wrapped a hand around his throat and squeezed threateningly. "_Got it?"_

Unable to speak, Yami nodded again and Yugi flipped the phone open, put it on speaker, and pressed it to his ear. "… Hello?"

"Yami? You _motherfucker!_ I've been calling you for days! Where the _hell _are you?!"

To emphasize his point, Yugi squeezed his neck again and he tried not to moan in pain or gasp for breath. "Yeah, sorry about that I um…" Another firm squeeze and Yami shut his eyes. "I decided to resign."

"_What?!"_

"You said it yourself I suck at this job, right? Well, I decided to do you a favor."

His neck was finally released and Yami carefully let out a small sigh. "You're not serious, are you?"

"As a heart attack."

"You— For fuck's sake. Where are you? I'm gonna punch the living daylights out of you for making me worry about your sorry ass!"

Yami hesitated for the briefest moment, wanting nothing more than to tell him that he was locked up in some basement with a psychopath. Apparently Yugi noticed him wavering because it took every ounce of his willpower not to scream in pain as Yugi massaged the wounded leg. The flesh around the wound tore a little as nimble fingers pulled at the skin and Yami nodded as quickly as he could, pressing his lips together.

"I dunno exactly, seeing that I've been u-um, travelling non-stop."

It was deadly quiet for a good ten seconds. Yami had stuttered and all three adults had noticed. His heart was going fifty miles per hour and his entire body shook with adrenaline and fear. Yugi raised an eyebrow and reached for his pocket, pulling out the same knife he had used before. There was dried blood on it.

"… Are you okay?"

"Sure, why do you ask?" Yami asked in a forced calm voice, eyeing the knife with watery eyes. Sweat trickled down his forehead and he shivered.

"You're lying, I can hear it in your voice."

"I just worked out. I'm a little out of breath, that's all."

"You sound awfully nervous, though."

"Anyone would be because it's you they're talking to."

"Tell me what's going on. I know you, you wouldn't quit just like that without a fight, nor would you suddenly disappear off the face of the earth. Even Anzu doesn't know where you are and I know you two are very close. She's been nothing but supportive and this is how you repay her? And I _never _said you suck at this job. I only said I was worried about you. Just… you leaving doesn't make _any _sense. Your stuff's still back at the apartment, I checked yesterday and your car's still parked somewhere in the parking lot…" Kaiba stopped ranting and stayed silent for a few seconds.

The edge of the knife was pressed against his throat and Yami clenched his jaw to keep himself under control. A small tear trickled down his cheek as he gripped the arms of the chair. Kaiba was still quiet on the other side and Yami cleared his throat loudly to get the other to speak again. Small droplets of blood formed at the knife and trickled down his sweaty neck.

"Still there, Kaiba?"

"You went after that Mutou guy, didn't you?"

His heart skipped a beat. Yugi narrowed his eyes at him, and Yami could merely avoid eye contact while his body shook with fear. His knuckles had turned white and another tear of panic slid down his face. "'Course not."

"Liar. Look, I know you're not gonna like this, but Ishizu told me everything. I know what happened and why you want this job so badly. Meet me at the office at three so we can talk about it, okay?"

"Hold up." Anger and panic burst from his veins and gave him a rush of energy. Completely forgetting about Yugi's presence for a second, Yami glared at the phone. "What exactly did she tell you?"

"That your mother was murdered when you were eight years old and that you're still looking for that guy that did it. I don't like talking to you about this on the phone so I suggest you come over 'cause we _really _need to talk about this. I'm really sorry about everything, but I know we can work something out," Kaiba told him, his voice now gentle and caring. Something Yami didn't know he needed so badly at this moment.

However, the pricking of the knife increased and Yami looked up at Yugi who shook his head.

"_End it,"_ he mouthed.

"Kaiba—"

"You coming over, or what?"

A throaty gasp escaped from his lips as Yugi slowly started to run the knife across his skin. Burning pain made him want to crawl out of his own skin, yet the only thing he could do was try to breathe normally and grip the chair. The more he tried to tip his head back, the harder Yugi pressed. Warm blood trickled down his neck, towards his chest and stomach.

"Yami, what's—"

"I'm gonna hang up now, Kaiba," Yami managed to bring out.

"No, wait!"

_Click. _

The phone was thrown to the ground and Yugi stepped on it. Yami panted and let go of the chair with his sticky fingers. His only chance of escaping had been ruined and on top of that, he had probably infuriated Yugi. Another lone tear slid down his sweaty cheek and he quickly pressed his lips together to suppress the convulsive gaps that threatened to escape.

"Tch, what am I gonna do with you?" Yugi spoke up calmly and carefully wiped away the tear with his thumb. "You can't do anything right, can you?"

"Shut up," Yami breathed, not trusting his voice anymore. The wound on his neck burned terribly and he tried to calm down to keep the blood from flowing too rapidly. "You don't know anything about me."

"Oh, but I do."

Once again, Yugi's voice had grown kind and gentle and he crouched down, holding Yami's face with his hands. With a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, he tipped his head to the side a bit. "Jii-chan's told me all about you. I watched you for ten years because of that silly crush of mine." Their noses bumped softly against each other, but to Yami it was anything _but _intimate. "I _longed _for your company, your voice, your touch, your _everything. _You could say that I was a little… obsessed with you. And apparently the tables have turned now. Ah, I love karma."

With a small chuckle, Yugi patted his cheek and pulled back. Yami, however, was left dumbfounded and confused. "The hell are you—?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Yugi interrupted him with a grin. "You're falling for me."

"Quite narcissistic, aren't you?" Yami said coolly.

"You wouldn't be here if you weren't."

Fury bubbled up inside him and Yami gritted his teeth. "The only reason I'm here is because you're a fucking _murderer!"_

That was the only excuse Yugi needed to plant the knife in his other, unharmed thigh. Howling in pain, Yami squirmed desperately in the chair, wheezing and panting as Yugi twisted the knife, shoving it more firmly into his flesh. It felt like his nerve endings were on fire as crucifying pain spread through his entire body. His eyes almost popped out of his head as he continued to scream himself hoarse.

"Better watch that foul mouth of yours," Yugi whispered harshly and grabbed his chin with his bloody fingertips. "Are you really _that _stupid?"

"If you're not a murderer, then what are you?" Yami countered sharply, still quite out of breath. "Because you're definitely not that love-sick kid who walked up to me all those years ago. What happened on the day of your mother's funeral?"

All of a sudden, the knife in his leg stilled and Yami made sure not to take his eyes off Yugi's. Hope flickered in his chest when Yugi's violet eyes averted their gaze for a split second and then returned. Something was different; they had become slightly darker and Yami felt a twinge of fear returning.

"I was as dead as she felt," Yugi spoke up simply and he pulled back. "After she died, I finally realized that I had a life of my own and that I needed to wake up. I'm very grateful that she's gone and no longer a pain in my ass."

Yami blinked and then frowned. "She was your mother. Probably depressed like you and in desperate need of help. How can you say that you're happy she's gone?"

"You of all people should know, seeing that you went over to talk to Jii-chan," the other snapped and Yami raised a questioning eyebrow. "She was _weak_. Couldn't handle being on her own, so she went out almost every night to have sex with another man she met at the bar. That whore."

Eyes widening slightly at those words, Yami stared up at him. Yugi appeared to be lost in thoughts for he was massaging his forehead and no longer paying attention to him. Yugi's aggressive wordings reminded him of the moment they had found the body of Chris' mother hanging from the ceiling, the word "Whore" hanging from her neck. The odds of those two being connected were slim to none, but he _had _to know. However, every time he accused Yugi of murder, it ended up with him getting sliced like a piece of meat.

If he was going to be honest with himself, he didn't know what to think of the illusionist anymore.

Yugi slowly turned around and his eyes softened, feigning worry. "Have I left you speechless?"

"Well, I'm just surprised," Yami quickly said. "It's not everyday that you hear someone calling their mother a whore."

"Really?" Yugi looked genuinely confused. "You've never held a grudge against your _dead_ mother?"

"I…" The words got stuck in his throat. Haunting images played in front of his eyes and he felt himself being sucked into a flashback.

The room they were in changed into his old living room. Yugi disappeared and was replaced by a strange man standing in front of him with a satisfied grin. Mana was next to him, sobbing so loudly that it was almost deafening and his father was begging for mercy. His mother, barely alive, was struggling to get up from her position on the floor while coughing up more and more blood.

"Please, stop," Aknamkanon whimpered, his hands above his head. "I-I'll do anything. Just— Don't hurt us."

"_I need her," _the man said in a robotic voice. "_Step aside." _

He was about to stab his mother again and Yami, feeling a burst of adrenaline, jumped up and grabbed the man's arm in a desperate attempt to stop him. Aknamkanon yelled out in panic and ran up to them, but was too late.

With an irritated growl, the maniac threw Yami across the room so that he was slammed against the bookcase. Overwhelming pain coursed through his tiny body and blood trickled down his lower back. Tears pricked in his eyes and he tried to get up, but his back gave in; he couldn't move an inch. He could only watch as the knife in the stranger's hand inched closer to his mother's chest.

The most shrill, bloodcurdling scream echoed in his head. Aknamkanon fell to his knees in defeat and sobbed into his hands while Mana was curled up under the table, tears streaming even more rapidly down her face as she watched everything from the corner of her eyes.

"Mom…" Yami whispered and lost the fight against the tears.

He blinked a few times and hung his head. The flashback was finally over, but his body was still in a panicked state: his hands shaking uncontrollably, the nausea, the desire to scream until his throat went dry, more tears welling up in his eyes and his heart beating so fast that it hurt. His lips trembled as shaky gasps made their way past them every few seconds.

"If I knew you were gonna cry this much…" Yugi muttered and placed a cold hand on Yami's shoulder, squeezing hard. "You're lucky you're cute and _so _very fun to play with. Too bad I have to do this."

Yami, still not fully recovered from the heavy flashback, was not able to comprehend what Yugi was saying until the other grabbed the knife and sat down on his legs again. The pain made him cry out, but Yugi ignored it and held his cheek.

"One last kiss to wish me luck."

Before Yami could protest, Yugi forced him into a hungry kiss again. Even if Yami wanted to enjoy it, he couldn't. His muscles ached and the throbbing wounds in his legs prevented him from taking any pleasure in the savoring kiss. It was so very different from the first kiss: Yugi was skillfully wrapping him around his finger by running his hands all over his quivering body and pressing their chests together.

An involuntary sound came out of Yami's mouth when Yugi's hand slipped under his shirt and caressed his bare skin. Slowly but surely, the pain disappeared and Yami hated himself for wanting more. The kissing became more aggressive with each passing second; Yugi was biting into his lips every now and then, nibbling almost playfully before pressing them together again. A hot, burning feeling developed itself in his chest and spread through his entire body like fire and within seconds, he was sweating. Sensual hands roamed over his ultra sensitive flesh and Yami gritted his teeth.

He was panting against Yugi's lips and felt familiar tears in his eyes from his own stupidity. His mind was screaming at him to do something, _anything _to get it to stop. But the tenseness in his muscles was slowly fading away the more they kissed and Yugi touched him. A single tear slipped out of the corner of his eye and he pulled back, shutting his eyes.

Both were silent for a while before Yugi caressed his cheek with the back of his fingers. "You absolutely sure you don't want more?"

Not trusting his voice, Yami nodded.

"All right," Yugi said and got up, making him grunt in pain. "I have to get on stage tonight, so I have to leave you for a while. I expect you to keep quiet until I get back."

"Fine," Yami whispered and opened his eyes to look up at him, trying not to show too much emotion. "Good luck."

Yugi smiled real big and leaned forward to tuck his bangs behind his ear. "Aww. No insults or sarcastic comments? You're finally regaining your senses. Still…" The knife that had been in his hand the whole time was placed against his lips. "I still don't trust you. A gag won't be enough to stop you from screaming at the top your lungs and I can't have someone walking in on you like this."

The smile disappeared in the blink of an eye and Yami tried to lean back, but Yugi firmly grabbed the back of his head, his nails scraping across his scalp. The word fear was barely enough to describe what Yami was feeling. The tip of the knife poked at the corner of his lips and he anxiously looked at Yugi, hoping to get some answers.

"I'm only doing this to shut you up. Now hold still, because you're only gonna make it worse."

It didn't matter. The minute Yugi forced his lips apart and made a small cut on the corner of his mouth, Yami screamed. Blood filled his mouth right away and dribbled down his chin. Yugi made another cut on the other side of his mouth and put the knife back in his pocket, pleased. The wounds were so small, yet it felt like Yugi had just torn his lips apart.

"There. Here's what happens if you disobey."

Once again, Yugi gripped his thigh and Yami howled in pain. Not thinking it could get any worse than this, Yami felt another shot of pain right where Yugi had cut him. More blood seeped into his mouth and streamed down his face. The skin around his mouth was _tearing. _

"It's simple," Yugi said stoically. "If you try to scream for help, the wounds will extend and cause you pain and blood loss. So," he got up with an almost endearing smile. "unless you want to be in even more pain, or create a permanent scar on your face, I'd suggest you shut up. Sound good?"

Yami tried to respond and yelped in pain as the skin was ripped apart. It tore even more because he had yelped so he quickly pressed his lips together and lowered his head in defeat. He had no choice but to keep his mouth shut and it was beyond humiliating.

A cloth was placed over his mouth and tied behind his head nonetheless. Yugi squeezes his shoulders and patting his cheek. "Good boy. See you in a few hours."

* * *

**Author's note: **Ah, yes. The Glasgow Smile... I've wanted to use it for quite some time and I saw the opportunity and took it. I FOUND OUT ABOUT IT WHEN I WAS WATCHING MAKE-UP TUTORIALS, I SWEAR. That was some _really _good special effects make-up, dude.

Next update will be on Sunday!  
Please review!


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's note: ***rushes in* I'M STILL ON TIME. Even though it's technically Monday here and I gotta get up early, bUT I'm here.

Thanks for all your fab reviews!

* * *

A rather heavy stomachache woke Yami up from his slumber. The last time Yugi had given him some water was probably last night (he was too disoriented to remember), but since it was nearly impossible to drink with those cuts, it had hurt too much to drink properly. His mouth was so dry that it felt like he had just swallowed a cup of sand.

He experimentally opened his mouth behind the cloth and found out the wounds had somewhat healed. As he carefully ran his tongue over them, he winced lightly at the burning sensation and quickly halted his actions. Dried blood covered his lips and Yami grimaced at the horrible, sour taste.

There was no sign of Yugi. Since he always turned off the lights whenever he left, Yami had completely lost sense of time and it was making him feel quite paranoid. There were no windows or other doors, and Yami curled up his fingers at the horrible thought. It was so incredibly quiet that it was maddening because the only thing he could hear was the sound of his own ragged breathing.

That last thought made him sit up. The minute he had walked into this room, the voices got blocked out immediately.

Yugi had lied to him. No one could hear him and there was definitely no way someone could hear _him. _Then why…?

He curled up his fingers again and he stiffened right away. Something rough and wet had brushed across his skin. Yami looked down at this hand and saw that his wrist had grown thin; he had lost weight. The ropes around his wrists were no longer tight and he almost choked on his own saliva when he found out he could slide his hands forward.

"…" Letting out a small breath through his nose, Yami carefully slipped out of the ropes. Trembling hands reached for his ankles and gently untied the knots. His forehead glistened with sweat while he tried his best to free himself as quickly as he could. The last thing was the cloth around his head and Yami practically tore it off, trying not to stare at the large bloodstain.

There was a good chance he wasn't able to run since the wounds in his thighs were so deep and fresh. There was absolutely no way they could have healed in such a short amount of time. His entire body shook as Yami steadily pushed himself out of the chair and he bit his lip to keep himself from crying out. Warm blood trickled down his legs and Yami saw that the friction had caused his wounds to spring open again.

The aching muscles trembled under his weight while he walked over to the small pile of clothes and clumsily knelt down. He reached for his throbbing head as he saw that the room had started to spin, or at least, that was what it felt like. When he looked down, he saw that his handcuffs were broken, the pistol was unloaded and that there was a large tear in jacket. He could have known that Yugi would be one step ahead of him.

"_Fuck_," he breathed and ran a hand over his face. It would have been too easy, anyway.

With a loud squeak, the door opened and the lights were turned on.

Yami's body automatically tensed as panic seeped into his brain. His bloodshot eyes fell on Yugi who was standing in the doorway, head tipped the side and looking at him as if he was only slightly confused at the sight. Neither of them said anything and Yami was growing more anxious as the seconds silently ticked by. Yugi just stood there, watching him with a small, almost endearing smile and took a few steps forward, closing the door behind him afterwards.

"Still hanging in there, Yami?"

Not expecting such a weird question, Yami stared at him, flabbergasted. "What?"

Yugi crouched down next to him and brushed his bangs aside. "I asked if you were still doing okay."

It had come to the point where Yami wanted nothing more than to scream at the top of his lungs every time Yugi came too close to him, or that he would panic whenever he saw a knife. Even now, when Yugi tenderly massaged his scalp and held his injured jaw with a warm hand, it was frightening. So, instead of answering, Yami somewhat managed to nod and Yugi's eyes softened in response.

"Really?"

"'m fine," Yami managed to mumble, being very careful not to move his lips too much.

"Hmm." Yugi ran a hand over his torso and stopped somewhere halfway, gripping his chest. "If you say so."

"… You lied to me."

Another silence fell over them and Yugi looked at him through his dark eyelashes. One of his eyebrows disappeared under his blond bangs and the corner of his lips twitched. "Oh?"

There was no going back now. Yami had kind of blurted it out and was now desperately trying not too back down, but his body had grown so stiff that it was very hard to continue. Yugi's soft hand had slipped down to his waist, its warmth spreading all over his upper body in an odd, yet soothing way. Dark violet eyes kept watching him like a hawk, making his insides squirm.

"I can't hear anything when you close that door," Yami finally uttered. "There was no need to cut my lips."

"Ah, about that…" Yugi rose to his feet, raised his right hand with a small grin and placed the tips of his middle finger and thumb against each other. "That's because I forgot to do _this._"

_Snap. _

Voices, footsteps, laughter, glasses clinking together, murmuring… Yami could hear _everything. _

Beyond confused, he looked up at the ceiling and could have sworn that someone had just placed their foot on the spot he was looking at. He knew that he was somewhere under the building, but it _couldn't _be that Yugi could _control _the sounds.

Yami narrowed his eyes at the so-called magician. "You really think I'm gonna fall for that?"

"Fall for what?" Yugi folded his arms over his chest, that same grin still plastered on his face.

"You're trying to freak me out," Yami said in a low voice. "You just needed an excuse to cut up my face, didn't you?"

However, the rumbling of footsteps and the voices became louder. At some point they were so loud that it was as if there was someone talking right next to him, and he felt his faint reflexes kicking in every time someone burst out laughing. Yami was sure he was going insane because the noises were _deafening _and giving him a migraine. His body shook with each breath he took and then his eyes widened when he realized this was not the first time something like this had happened.

_Snap. _

Yami raised his head and blinked at Yugi who was still holding up his hand. "What is going on?"

The other didn't say anything, merely pursed his lips and lowered his hand until it was by his side. Yami remembered the maddening buzzing noise he had heard when he was talking to Yugi for the second time. Maybe Yami had already lost his grip on reality and was falling deeper and deeper.

"Feel like you're losing it?" Yugi asked sweetly and put his hand in his pocket.

_Yes. _"What are you playing at?"

"Like I said, sometimes I forget that I already blocked out all the sounds."

"And like _I _said, you're just good at distracting people. It's obvious you've got some kind of tape hidden somewhere in this room and you're using it to freak me out."

Booming laughter easily bounced off the walls, sending multiple shivers down Yami's back and making the hairs on his arms stand up. Yugi had thrown his head back and was leaning on the chair to maintain his balance, clearly amused by Yami's wordings. He even wiped away an imaginary tear as he straightened up and stared at him with a small smile.

However, that smile turned into a frown and Yugi rolled up his sleeves. "All right, the gloves are off."

With one single flick of his wrist, the chair was thrown into the air, smashed against the wall and broken into a million pieces. Yami could merely watch, his breath caught in his throat as Yugi advanced towards him, his steps echoing loudly. He tried to walk, but his legs just shook pathetically under his weight and he collapsed.

"This isn't real, this _can't _be real," Yami stammered stupidly and tried to get up by gripping the wall.

"Questioning my powers?" Yugi frowned, stretching out his arm towards him. His fingers slowly curled inwards as if he was making a fist, and Yami felt an invisible hand wrapping itself tightly around his torso. "Here, let me show you."

_Flex. _Just like the chair, Yami was slammed into a wall as Yugi extended his fingers, holding him there. The air was knocked out of him right away and pain coursed through his entire body. _Real _pain. This was truly happening.

"After all those weeks, you finally manage to get your ass over here and all you do is _insult _me," Yugi took a step closer and Yami groaned as the invisible hand squeezed the air out of him. "and make fun of me. I'm starting to wonder if you were really worth all that trouble."

Those glowering violet eyes fastened on him and Yami felt his heart skip a beat. "Wait… You were _trying _to get me to you?" Then, he gritted his teeth and tried to escape from the grip, but he was practically glued to the wall. "It _was _you! You were the one who broke in, you lured in those kids, you _stole _my father's body from the autopsy room!"

"And look who's finally caught on," Yugi smiled sweetly and slightly loosened his grip so Yami could breathe normally for a moment. "I had to provoke you, otherwise you wouldn't have shown up."

"Fine, I'm here and I'm all yours. What, you're gonna kill me, too?"

Yugi's eyebrow twitched and Yami screamed out in pain when the wounds at the corners of his mouth started tearing. He was roughly dropped to the ground, but that didn't stop his skin from ripping. The cuts kept extending until Yami felt them in the middle of his cheeks and he desperately pressed his hands against his face to stop it. Blood was continuously pouring out of the wounds, wetting his face and hands, mixing with the tears that were escaping from his eyes.

"I can keep going till your face splits in two," Yugi growled menacingly.

"Stop! _Stop!" _Yami screeched hoarsely and the skin stopped tearing right away. His body instantly calmed down and he let himself fall to the floor, breathing heavily.

"Do you want the pain to stop?" Weakly pushing himself up, Yami glared up at Yugi who was leaning over him, glowing with pride. "If you want, I can end it all in a heartbeat for you. Just say the word and it'll be quick and painless."

Wanting the pain to stop… Yami kept looking at him, searching his eyes. Those were the words all the adolescents had used before they ended up killing their loved ones. In order for the pain to stop, they had to kill someone else. They had all reached insanity and Yami would be lying to himself if he didn't admit that he was close to losing it as well. There was some kind of unwanted desire to put an end to _everything,_ to make it stop, to make it all go away. And then, Mana's tear tracked face flashed in front of his eyes and it hit him. It all made _sense. _

"You _motherfucker!"_ Yami shouted and grabbed Yugi's collar, pulling him closer until their faces were only an inch apart. "What did you do to my sister?! _Where is she?!" _

As soon as those last words left his mouth, Yugi's eyes started glowing. Within less than a second, his eye sockets were bright yellow and Yami let go of him, literally terrified. Smirking widely, Yugi wrapped his fingers around his neck and hauled him back onto his feet, his piercing eyes almost blinding him.

"_I want it. And I want it now_."

His voice had changed and Yami immediately recognized it as the voice that spoke to him on the phone when Mana had called him. The same voice in his premonitions. _The voice that—_

The iron grip on his neck grew stronger and Yami gasped for air, struggling wildly. Yugi pushed him up against the wall, breathing hungrily like an animal that was about to tear its prey to shreds. His free hand came to rest on his chest and even though Yami was wearing a shirt, he could have sworn he felt sharp nails poking at his flesh. The scream got stuck in throat as he felt those fingers _penetrating _his chest, pushing in deeper and deeper.

"_Almost there…_" Yugi whispered against his lips, almost nipping at the torn skin. "_Don't worry, it'll all be over soon._"

Just when Yami was about to bite off his tongue, a bullet flew across Yugi's arm, going right through his sleeve. Yugi immediately pulled back as if he had burned himself, his eyes back to their usual violet color. Yami ended up on the floor, choking and coughing, holding his bruised throat.

"I swear, if you even _think _about moving a single muscle, I won't hesitate to put a bullet through that fucked up head of yours," a familiar voice growled.

Yami shakily pushed himself up to look at the source of that voice and his eyes widened in relief.

Standing in the doorway, holding up a gun that was aimed at Yugi's face, was none other than Kaiba. His eyes contained a spine-chilling coldness and his lips had turned into a thin line, making him almost unrecognizable.

"We both know you won't do that," Yugi chuckled and dusted off his clothes.

Not even a second passed before Kaiba had already fired the gun. Yugi's knees shook before he was forcefully pulled to the floor by gravity. Kaiba had shot him in both calves in less than two seconds and Yami couldn't help but be impressed by his skills.

"You're right," Kaiba snarled and stomped over to him. "Because I'm not a _freak_ like you."

Without any sign of hesitation, Kaiba rammed his gun against Yugi's head, causing him to slip into unconsciousness right away and end up on the floor right next to Yami. It took Yami a moment to fully register what was going on and it wasn't until more people came rushing in, calling out his name that he realized what was going on. Policemen circled around them, muttering to themselves and pointing at Yugi's body.

"You found him!" Mai's voice practically shrieked. The clicking of high heels grew louder and louder until his captain dropped down onto her knees in front of him and held his cheeks. "Oh my god, what— Your _face. _What the hell did he _do _to you? Listen, I'm _so _sorry for not believing you, I— You're… _Oh, Yami…_"

Mai bit her lip, silent tears streaming down her face. Then, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. Yami could merely let his head rest on her shoulder as she squeezed him soothingly, still shaking like a leaf because he could still _feel _Yugi's hand around his throat.

Jounouchi rushed over to him as well, putting an arm around his shoulder to help him to his feet.

"Can you walk?" he quickly asked, eyeing him worriedly.

"U-uh, I dunno," Yami mumbled lamely as his legs did a poor job at supporting his weight.

"Here, Mai, gimme a hand…"

From the corner of his eye, he saw Kaiba looking at him, gun still in his hand, along with a pair of handcuffs that were undoubtedly for Yugi.

* * *

_Tokyo, Japan  
September 25__h__, day 46, 1:20 am _

It was beyond _horrible _to tell them everything. Even though Yami was sitting in a very comfortable bed with Anzu by his side, rubbing his arm, it was really hard to report. It was as if he was back in that room and Yugi was standing in front of him, cutting him everywhere with that knife and Yami had to constantly remind himself that he was in a hospital, surrounded by the people who had saved him, but his body simply refused to believe it.

Kaiba was sitting at the foot of the bed, listening intensely to every word, Mai was leaning against the window, shaking her head and looking like she was about to burst into tears any second, Otogi kept cursing under his breath next to her and Jounouchi had balled up his fist, appearing to be ready to punch someone.

And lastly, Anzu, who was crying silently next to him, pressing her lips together every time Yami had to pause for a moment to take a deep breath. His voice was hoarse from all the talking and on top of that, he was so exhausted that it took ever ounce of his willpower to not pass out on the spot.

The weirdest part had yet to come. The part where Yugi had started to blatantly defy the law of gravity, throwing the chair _and _him at the wall with a mere wave of his hand, his eyes changing color, his _voice, _his fingers almost boring through his shirt… It was hard to say whether they were going to believe him, since he wasn't exactly sure of it himself. Maybe Yugi had simply managed to trick him like he thought in the beginning, or it was a buildup of his fatigue and anxiety, causing him to hallucinate.

And then there were the parts that Yugi had sexually assaulted him and that was so utterly humiliating that Yami kept choking on his words. He could feel Yugi's hands wandering down his chest, those hot lips on his own, the whispering in his ear that made goose bumps appear all over his body—

Yami noticed he had stopped talking for a while because he saw that everyone was staring at him with wide eyes.

"You insulted him and then?" Kaiba pressed somewhat urgently.

"Give him a break, will you?" Mai huffed and folded her arms over her chest. "The poor kid's been through enough as it is."

"I need to know what we're dealing with here," Kaiba shot back, clearly irritated.

"Think we already got a pretty clear picture," Jounouchi spoke up, pushing himself off the wall and running a hand through his hair. "I'd better call the office to see how they're doing over there."

"And I'm gonna get some coffee," Otogi joined in and both men walked out the door, giving everyone a quick wave and closing the door behind them.

With a small sigh, Yami rubbed at his forehead, wincing slightly. "Sorry, Kaiba. I'm trying really hard here."

"Then try harder!" Kaiba suddenly yelled and Yami jumped, accidentally knocking over his tray of hospital food that was placed next to his bed.

Everyone grew silent while Anzu quietly rose to her feet to clean up the mess. Yami brought his shaky hand to his gown and tugged at it nervously, feeling beyond embarrassed. Tears had formed in his eyes again at the sudden outburst and he didn't know what to do anymore. He felt so _weak _and powerless for reacting like that, and not being able to talk about everything that happened. It was his fucking _job _to stay calm in situations like these, but it was just too difficult.

"Out," Mai snapped at Kaiba and pointed a finger at the door. "Before I _throw _you out."

Kaiba didn't need to be told twice and left right away, mumbling something about getting some coffee as well. A twinge of guilt hit Yami at the sight of his boss leaving the room and he bit his lip, absently rubbing his bandaged fingers together. He looked at Mai as she closed the curtains.

"I guess we'll all be going then," she said after she was done and turned back to Yami. Clasping her hands together, she continued, "I'll make sure to take Kaiba with me so he won't bother you anymore. You deserve some rest and… I-I'll come visit tomorrow."

Smiling faintly, she left the room as well. Yami hesitantly looked up at Anzu who was fiddling with her blouse. She was the only one who hadn't said a word ever since they arrived and Yami really wanted to apologize to her for not listening, but he simply couldn't muster the courage to get the words past his lips.

Instead of saying something, Anzu carefully climbed onto the bed and went to lie down next to him. Yami moved over so she could get comfortable and sighed when she placed her head on his chest, wrapping an arm around his waist.

"I'm sorry," he croaked and his voice broke.

But Anzu shook her head and stroked his arm with the tips of her fingers. "It's okay. It's over."

* * *

**Author's note: **Eh? Eeeeeh? We have officially reached a climax, guys. FINALLY.

I should probably mention that I'm gonna go on a trip next Sunday for two weeks and I dunno if I'll be able to update then. I _will _put up one more chapter before I leave, so there's that~.

Please review!


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's note:** Daaaaang it. Sorry, everything was a bit hectic before we left, and the trip to 'murica kinda killed me because we did so many things in so little time, and on top of that, I met Jensen Ackles and I'll never get over that. Seriously.

Also, uni. Uni's taking over mY LIFE.

Anygays, thank you so much for your reviews! I'm literally a squealing mess right now because y'all are so nice uwu

* * *

_Tokyo, Japan  
September 30__h__, day 51, 7:32 am _

A nurse was holding a mirror in front of his face as the doctor talked to him, motioning with his gloved hands.

"I wouldn't worry too much about the small wounds and bruises. Those will fade over time and won't leave any marks."

Yami could merely stare at the reflection he barely recognized: his hollow eyes, his sunken cheekbones, the dark bruises on his jaw, the blue and purple marks under his eyes and lastly, the quoting smile Yugi had created. The wounds had been cleaned and disinfected thoroughly, but still stuck out like a sore thumb.

His muscles were completely stiff and sore because he hadn't used them in _days_ and because of that, his limbs tingled and throbbed every time he moved them. On top of that, his stamina was practically non-existent, causing him to be already out of breath after a trip to the bathroom. He couldn't do _anything, _except read his favorite books Anzu brought in for him, which had become incredibly boring after one day.

The fact that he was stuck in a hospital bed with nothing but his thoughts to accompany him, drove him crazy and he wished he could go back to the office, but then again… Yugi was there.

Mai had come in this morning to tell him that Yugi had been put in a small cell and that they wouldn't ask him any questions until he was back. It was frightening and soothing at the same time to know that Yugi was locked up, yet Yami didn't really look forward to the interrogation.

"I'm gonna be completely honest with you here," his doctor said with a painful smile. He carefully touched the cuts at the edges of his mouth. "We can keep an eye on these and make sure they don't get infected, but other than that, there's not much we can do. Once it heals, it'll stay red for a few months and fade over time. Still, I'm afraid it'll probably leave a permanent scar."

Sighing quietly through his nose, Yami looked up at him and smiled faintly. "Okay."

"I'm really sorry, Tanaka-san."

A few minutes later, both of them left, leaving Yami alone with the stupid mirror. He laid it back on the small table next to his bed because he didn't want to look at his face anymore. It was practically unrecognizable and it only reminded him of the time in the basement. His insides still squirmed every time he thought about it and his heart would start hammering against his chest right away. So, he tried not to think about it too much, which only resulted in receiving unwanted flashbacks and small panic attacks.

It didn't exactly help that he had yet to tell the entire story to his colleagues. Kaiba didn't want to wait too long because he was scared the details would gradually grow faint and Yami had casually shouted at him that the fucking memories were practically burned into his brain. Just like the night of the death of his mother; something he could never forget even if he wanted to.

Since he had had so much time to think, he was finally able to line up the pieces, though. He'd forced himself to _cling _to Yugi, telling himself over and over again that it was him who ruined his life, because deep down, he knew he'd never find the guy who killed his mother. Neither his father nor Mana had seen his face, or at least, they couldn't remember it, and Yami had been too absorbed into the scene itself, resulting in him having no recollection of the murderer whatsoever.

It couldn't have been Yugi, because he was fucking _eight _at the time, and there were no other witnesses at all. After they had reported to the police, they never heard from them again. Aknamkanon fell into a severe case of depression not too long afterwards and Mana was too young to help him, so Yami had to start taking care of them, forcing himself to become an adult.

Everyday was a struggle and Yami wouldn't be surprised if he had been diagnosed with depression as well, but the thought hadn't even occurred to him at the time. There was no one he could talk to, except the police who came back to report every once in a while.

"We're very sorry that we don't have any good news, sir," the police officer had told him for the umpteenth time and Yami could merely watch them leave and his father quietly closing the door.

"They'll never find him," Aknamkanon had mumbled as he brushed past Yami and let himself fall on the dirty couch. "It's too late. It's been two years and they have _no idea_. I-I'm gonna go to bed."

The absent-minded pat on his head he received, felt like a hot arrow in his heart. Ever since that day, Yami had wanted nothing more than to become a police officer himself to find that asshole.

But that was easier said than done. The days were becoming longer, almost unbearably long, Yami was so unfocused that he kept splashing hot oil on his arms during his cooking, he had to pull a lot of all-nighters to finish his homework and on top of that, he could see the light slowly dying in his father's eyes. There had been hints of hope every now and then, but since the police stopped showing up, it got worse everyday, up until the point he refused to leave his room and Mana kept yanking on his sleeve, demanding attention. Yami could still picture himself banging on his father's door while Mana was crying loudly about the fact that she hadn't seen her father in three days.

"Why's Daddy not coming out of his room anymore?"

"Dad, come on, open up!"

"Go away."

"It's been three days! If you continue to stay in there, you'll die!"

"_Fine_."

Mana stopped crying right away and Yami felt his legs giving in and dropping to the floor.

He had failed. Failed to keep his family together. They would have to live on the streets, beg people for money everyday and most importantly, he'd never find _him._ If his father died, they would have nothing left and there was barely enough money to begin with.

"Is Daddy mad at us?"

Unfortunately, Yami didn't know the answer. He didn't know whether their father even loved them still. They never talked, the only words they exchanged were a few standard lines every now and then, which became less and less over the days, worrying him to no end. Mana was happy enough they got to see him and didn't complain, even though he always pushed her away whenever she tried to hug or kiss him. It resulted in Yami having to constantly comfort her and stay with her until she stopped sobbing.

Silent tears streamed down his pale cheeks as Yami looked up at the door, both scared and frustrated. "You're a coward," he whispered before he got up, grabbed Mana's hand and dragged her to the staircase.

"Wait!"

Mana roughly pulled her small hand out of his grip and Yami stared down at her. "What?"

"We can't just leave him like this," Mana said and motioned towards their father's room. "What if—"

"There's nothing we can do. He's locked the door and I can't get through to him."

Pressing her lips together, Mana glared at him, tears slowly welling up in her eyes. "I don't wanna lose him, too!"

"We've already lost him."

The words had blurted out so fast that it scared him. Yami stood there, perplexed by his own statement and Mana was as equally shocked as him. It was nothing but the truth, but… it was the unspoken truth. Yami already knew his father was long gone after that night and that it was only a matter of time before he would completely lose his mind. Maybe Mana didn't _want _to believe it, or maybe she really had no idea; she was only four, after all. Still, like him, she had grown up too fast and, even though she could still be quite childish, they were very much alike.

His lower lip trembled and he watched her carefully descending the stairs. Maybe he should have apologized, but it was too late to contemplate because he saw Mana heading for the phone.

"Mana, what are you— Who are you calling?" Yami quickly followed her and saw her dialing and holding the phone up to her ear. "Mana!"

"Please help us. My dad hasn't left his room for three days and he's locked the door."

Yami froze on the spot as he heard a mature voice asking her questions about their situation and whereabouts. "Mana, wait…"

"My big brother is here with me. Okay, I'll unlock the front door for you."

It all happened in a flash. Men in brightly colored uniforms bursting through the door, Mana pointing up the stairs, finding Aknamkanon's unconscious body on his bed, a police officer kneeling down in front of him and asking him questions and lastly, Sugoroku Mutou, one of their neighbors, leading them into his home for the first time.

They were forced to stay there until Aknamkanon was well enough to take care of them, which took a very long time. However, Yami couldn't be more thankful Mana had called for help. For the first time in years, he didn't have to worry about anything as Sugoroku took good care of them and played silly games with them. He had never seen Mana happier and was glad she could at least have some good memories of her childhood.

Though, after a few weeks, Yami started wondering what was behind the first door on the left on the third floor. He'd never asked Sugoroku before and was too scared to, since he didn't want to upset the man who had been kind enough to take them into his home. Mana had never really noticed and always walked past it without saying anything. But after several more weeks, it started to bug him.

The door was always closed, but there was light shining from underneath it, so it was obvious something or _someone _was in there. Maybe it was simply a storage room and completely boring. Still, Yami found it annoyingly strange.

Then, on a Sunday evening, he couldn't help himself anymore. "What's behind the upstairs door on the left?"

Sugoroku eyed him carefully and Yami instantly regretted everything. "So, he hasn't come down yet? Not once?"

"He…?"

"My grandson, Yugi."

They got a small portion of the story, which didn't soothe Yami's curiosity at all. Apparently Yugi lived here because his parents divorced two years ago and that was pretty much all they got to hear.

Sugoroku talked about him whenever he got the chance, saying how glad he was Yugi was living here now and that he could get to know him better. It confused the hell out of Yami, seeing that Yugi never left his room, or maybe he only came out when he and Mana weren't staying over.

Over the years, his father got a lot better and was allowed to stay at home, so after Mana's eighth birthday, they went back.

However, Aknamkanon was not doing as well as they thought. Not too long after they had discharged him, his depression resurfaced, creating an awful atmosphere inside their house. The vague memories of Yugi Mutou became fainter with each passing day as Yami had taken back his old job of taking care of them. Every time Mana suggested calling the doctors, Aknamkanon made them hang up, telling them that he was fine. It didn't matter how many times they fought, their father simply refused to get help and yet on the other hand, didn't do anything to lighten the weight that was on Yami's shoulders.

Mana had started slipping through his fingers as well, putting more pressure on his already aching chest. Somehow, it felt like it was even worse than it was before. Their home didn't feel like a home anymore. It felt like an isolated place where Yami had to go to everyday to make sure everything was still okay. Sometimes Sugoroku would come over to check on them and Yami truly appreciated it every time since it kept him going. Never did he tell him about their situation, but Yami never found out what kept him from doing so. He'd lie every time, telling the old man that they were happy and that everything was fine.

On his first day of high school, he met Anzu. It didn't take long for their friendship to bloom and it was absolutely great until Anzu had one day asked if she could come over.

"No."

"Why not?"

Yami shrugged. "'Cause."

Unfortunately, Anzu ended up pressing her luck and they fought for the first time. "There's something you're not telling me and I want to know what it is!"

"It's none of your business!"

Those words had awakened certain memories and for a minute, he was a bit disoriented. It didn't last very long because Anzu yelled right back at him. "I'm your friend, of course it is!"

The argument was so intense that their so-called friendship almost came to an end. They didn't talk to each other for the next few days, not even when a teacher paired them up for an assignment. They could only glare at each other, resulting in ticking their teacher off. Both of them ended up in detention together and _still _refused to talk.

Well, until Anzu called him later that night to apologize. And Yami finally told her. He had never told anyone the entire story and he couldn't remember the last time he had cried so hard. Anzu was a great listener, even asked if she could come over to comfort him, but that was when Yami forced himself to calm down and kindly tell her that it wasn't necessary, even though he appreciated it. After that, they never talked about it again, because both of them knew it would end up in a fight.

Yugi was completely wiped off his memory, even when the poor kid had confessed to him in their second year. Yami had absolutely no memory of this boy, or at least, that was what he thought at the time. There was some sort of vague picture of him somewhere in the back of his mind, too far to reach, so he couldn't really remember him. Still, it didn't stop Yami from finding him interesting and maybe even… liking him.

After all, behind that repulsive façade was still a quite appealing face. Especially when Yugi had started talking to him about _him _because it brought this certain sparkle in his eyes, which was so very endearing that Yami actually wanted nothing more than to be friends with him. Maybe even more if he had had the chance.

But then, the bullying had started. It created a huge barrier between the two, and Yami had never felt guiltier about something. If he hadn't told Anzu about their talk, everything would still be the same and no one would be laughing at him for asking out another guy. They just needed an excuse to make fun of him and had finally found one.

It didn't seem to have an impact on Yugi, though. His dull expression never changed and he'd never react to the name-calling or laughter. Yami had wanted to talk to him, but Anzu had stopped him, telling him that he already had enough to worry about. Unfortunately she was right because a few weeks later, Aknamkanon wouldn't leave his room again.

This time, however, Yami was sixteen, and strong enough to kick the door open. To his horror, he saw that his father was about to swallow a bottle of sleeping pills.

"I just… I want to see her."

There was fighting, screaming, yelling, crying up until the point where Yami almost lost his voice. His father was standing in front of him, panting and gritting his teeth. Yami had just thrown the pills out the window with a defiant look in his eyes and Mana was stopping Aknamkanon from attacking him.

"This is the first time in _years _you've properly looked me in the eye," Yami uttered, his raw throat burning. "And only because I stopped you from killing yourself."

Those words seemed to have an effect on him. Mana slowly let go as Aknamkanon stopped struggling to get out of her grip, looking at Yami with moist eyes, his lips slightly parted. Yami didn't move an inch and simply kept glowering at him, too infuriated to see the waterfall of tears streaming down his father's face.

The rest of the night was a blur. The only thing Yami remembered was talking for at least five hours, his voice completely gone when he finally went to bed. Mana was waiting for him in his room, asking if she could stay there because she was so shaken up.

And ever since that night, things had gotten miraculously better. Aknamkanon was actively trying to talk to them and help with the chores, even though there were still moments where he would hide his room and sit there for a couple of hours. But it was definitely a huge improvement and Yami was just glad he was finally able to wake him up.

When he graduated from high school and had to go to college, he wasn't as hesitant to move out anymore. His visits were quite frequent, so he could do some chores, talk to Aknamkanon to check if he was still doing okay, and ask Mana if she needed any help with her homework. It had become part of his routine at some point; every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday he'd come over, cook them dinner, clean the entire house and study afterwards in his room.

At some point it wasn't really necessary anymore, though. So, on one Wednesday when he was just about to leave, Mana called him.

"Take this week off."

"But—"

"Yami, it's okay. Dad's doing absolutely great, I promise. And I want you to take it easy for a while because you need to focus on your studies."

Surprisingly, Yami felt himself saying yes and hanging up.

After that, he didn't visit as often anymore. He still called almost everyday to make sure, and Mana'd gently tell him that he shouldn't worry so much. But the fear of losing both of them still burned in his chest almost everyday, so he couldn't let it go as easily as he'd hoped.

And it turned out it was all for nothing. Because Aknamkanon was dead now and Mana was gone—

A knock on his door almost made him fall out of bed. Gnawing on his bottom lip to keep himself from crying out, Yami gripped the hospital sheets angrily. He quickly wiped away the dried tears on his cheeks and sat up straight.

"Yeah?"

The door swung open, revealing a glum Kaiba. "Can I come in?"

Not entirely sure how to properly respond, Yami shrugged and awkwardly held out his hand to the chair at the foot of his bed. Kaiba slowly slumped over to the chair, undoing the buttons of his coat before draping it over the back of said chair.

The fact that Kaiba had taken off his coat meant that he was going to be here for a while and if Yami was going to be honest with himself, it made him quite nervous. It probably meant Kaiba wanted to talk about his disappearance, or maybe tell him that he finally decided to fire him, or that they got some answers out of Yugi that Yami really didn't want to hear.

It was going to be painful no matter what and Yami shifted a little so he could sit up straight. "So um, what's up?"

Kaiba cleared his throat and leaned forward, folding his hands together. "I came here to apologize."

Completely taken by surprise, Yami blinked. "You what?"

"It's not really my thing so listen carefully 'cause I'm not gonna repeat myself," the other sighed and Yami didn't know whether to nod or laugh. "You were right all along. I just thought a rookie was simply trying to outsmart me, and it turns out I was wrong. The only reason we're so close to solving this case is because _you _went after that dick. If it wasn't for your determination and cleverness, we wouldn't be where we are right now."

Yami opened his mouth to protest, but Kaiba raised his hand. "I was stupid for not realizing sooner that you needed help. Instead of giving you the necessary tools, I kept telling you that you were barking up the wrong tree. Not only was I acting irresponsible, I made a fool out of myself. I should've recognized the symptoms and behavior, but I still let you run off on your own. After I talked to Ishizu, we figured you had gone after him and so I tried to call you. When I couldn't reach you, I contacted Anzu and she told me… everything."

"Oh," Yami breathed and felt himself going limp.

"You shouldn't feel ashamed. I _had _to know these things."

"What things?" But he already knew the answer.

"I think you know," Kaiba said quietly and eyed him carefully.

"_Why_ would those things be relevant, though?"

"Yami."

The calm, yet concerned tone in his boss' voice made his lower lip tremble. The piece of blanket he had been clenching between his fingers dropped back on the bed because his fingers simply refused to function.

The only thing he could do, was try to comprehend where Kaiba was going, which was clearly impossible. It was obvious Anzu had told him about that one night, but still… Why would it be of any importance to the case?

"They obviously affected you."

"… The hell are you talking about?"

An alarmed look appeared on Kaiba's face, encouraging Yami's nerves to go into overdrive. "I'm talking about your… your post-traumatic stress disorder."

"My _what?"_

After letting out a small sigh, Kaiba started explaining. The natural flush on Yami's cheeks that had barely returned, disappeared and he felt sicker than ever. Those simple words that came out of Kaiba's mouth left him shocked and speechless. He felt beyond _ashamed _he hadn't noticed it himself and miserable because it all started to make sense to him.

It explained everything. The flashbacks, panic attacks, loss of control, the _need _to block the memory and avoid situations that might remind him of the murder, the jumpiness, insomnia, _everything. _

"Fucking hell," he muttered and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes after his boss was done talking.

"Yami, it's treatable," Kaiba quickly reassured him and placed a hand on his leg. "After a couple of sessions you should be fine, Ishizu has—"

But Yami was barely listening to a word he was saying. It was almost too surreal to believe that his brain was damaged in one of the worsts way possible: certain thoughts and memories were linked to heavy emotions, causing him to lose completely control over his mind and body. Triggers were unpredictable, so there was no way out of it. He was basically powerless; all he could do was give it time and try to avoid any possible triggers.

"… and there's one more thing."

Since he hadn't been paying attention, Yami had no idea what Kaiba had told him, but since he wasn't exactly in the mood to listen to the whole story again, he just went with it. "What's that?"

Kaiba clicked his tongue and absently rubbed his forehead. "I know that I'm asking a lot here, but…" he paused for a moment and then pleadingly looked up at Yami, scaring the latter. "I need you back at the office. And I need you there now."

"What, why?" Yami unconsciously leaned back against the pillows, as if that was going to prevent him from going.

"Because you're the only person Mutou wants to talk to."

* * *

**Author's note:** And so we finally know what _really _happened all those years ago. Haaahaaahaaaaaa, yeah that part basically wrote itself, so that's good, right? Yes, it is.

OKAY, so next chapter shall be posted this Sunday as a token of my gratitude (god, that sentence sounds posh) and also because I suck at updating.  
And I know y'all miss Yugi already so don't worry, you'll like the next chapter. Mwah.

Please review and have a lovely Friday!


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's note: **I'M STILL ON TIME. I DIDN'T FORGET, I SWEAR.

Okay, I almost did, but that was because I was too busy memorizing 80+ Kanji huehuehuehue, I love uni, I really do. Just gotta keep telling myself that.

Thanks for your reviews!

* * *

It was the first time Yami had ever gone to a super-maximum facility and it was definitely one of the most nerve-wracking things he had ever done. Kaiba, however, didn't seem to be bothered by it too much as they walked through the narrow hall, past the small cells. Several guards nodded at them in a form of greeting, but Yami was having a hard time nodding back.

Some of them gave him worried glances and Yami resisted the urge to pull his collar up to his face. He knew damn well that the cuts and bruises on his face were still clearly visible. Most of them had somewhat healed, unlike the large cut across his lips, which stood out and had even made several people gasp.

It was obvious that everyone at the department knew what had happened. Most female colleagues got teary-eyed just by looking at him or quickly averted their gaze, while the male policemen started swearing and muttering things to their friends. If Kaiba hadn't been gripping his arm to drag him along, he surely would still be standing there, feeling overwhelmed by all the staring.

Seeing Yugi again was something he really didn't want to do. Even though he knew Yugi would be cuffed and thus, immobile, it still terrified him endlessly. Yami had made it perfectly clear that he didn't want to do the interrogation, but since Yugi refused to speak to anyone other than him, they didn't have a choice. Kaiba wasn't very fond of it either and Ishizu had told them it was way too soon.

"I _need _to know where my brother is," Kaiba had muttered under his breath, looking beyond desperate.

And Yami wanted to know where Mana was more than anything, so he told himself to get over it and face his fears. But that was easier said than done, seeing that his _steady_ hand was no longer steady.

They had reached his cell and Yami eyed it cautiously. The guard shoved the key in the lock and turned it, pushing the door open.

The light was turned on and there he was, curled up on the bed, wrists and ankles cuffed together, his messy hair all over the place, the clothes he had been given way too big on him, and, much to Yami's surprise, appearing nervous. His face was ghostly pale, glistened with sweat and there were bags under his dull eyes. He was looking at them over his shoulder, appearing confused and…

_Scared._

Yami almost lost it when he saw the anxiety glittering in those haunting eyes. The tinkling of metal made Yami tear his gaze away and his eyes fell on the cuffed hands, which were shaking. Yugi looked down at his wrists and quickly brought his hands together, pressing them against each other to stop the rattling. His baggy pants had ridden up, revealing his bandaged legs and Yami felt guilt bubbling up inside him.

The door closed behind them and Yami tensed up right away. Kaiba placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly, but he barely felt it.

The look in Yugi's eyes was too distracting. It was completely different and Yami's eyes widened when he realized Yugi looked _exactly _like he did back in high school.

"Yami…" he whispered, hurt lacing his words and Yami felt his knees going weak at the fragility in his voice. For a minute, he felt like he had gone back in time and was talking to the shy Yugi who had confessed to him.

"You _dare _to guilt-trip him?" Kaiba barked and Yami shot him an incredulous look. "I brought him all the way here because you refused to open that filthy mouth of yours and now you're acting like _you're _the victim? Pathetic piece of shit."

Kaiba raised his free hand and Yami, purely reacting out of instinct, snatched his wrist before he could punch him. "No!"

The three of them grew deadly silent. Yugi was staring up at him, his moist eyes swimming with tears, Kaiba looked he had been stabbed in the back and lastly, Yami staring at his feet, questioning his motives like no tomorrow. The fingers around Kaiba's wrist trembled pathetically and his heart was hammering painfully against his aching chest.

What was wrong with him…? Yugi had humiliated, sexually assaulted and _tortured _him for at least _five days straight _for no apparent reason and now he was defending him. Not to mention he would have a permanent scar on his face that would remind him of it everyday and that he would always have trust issues. Even now, he saw images of Yugi continuously punching him in the face and stomach until he started vomiting because Kaiba had raised his fist.

"Ishizu was right. You're not ready for this," Kaiba spoke softly and lowered his hand, prying Yami's fingers away from his sleeve.

"That's not it, I…" Yami glanced over at Yugi who had pressed his lips together and was looking down at the bed. "Did anything happen to him?"

"What do you mean?"

There was a stain on the duvet of Yugi's bed and when Yugi slowly raised his head to reveal his tear-tracked cheeks, Yami's brain shut down. Bloodshot eyes pleadingly looked up at him and Yami was sure he was going to collapse any minute.

"What-what happened to him?" he stammered lamely. "This… isn't him. It _can't _be him."

"Yami, do I need to remind you that this guy," Kaiba motioned towards him with an irritated flick of his wrist. "was _strangling_ you and harassing you when I found you? Want me to show the holes in his legs where I shot him? I'll gladly tear off those stupid bandages to convince you that this is definitely him. This is the exact same thing I warned you about earlier. People can cry on command and will try to guilt-trip you. This shouldn't have _any _effect on you!"

A loud snort shook Yami out of his daze. Both of them looked at Yugi who was not even trying to hide his shit-eating grin. "He's right, you know. That was _way _too easy. I mean, if _that's_ all it takes to make you lose it, then you really shouldn't be here in the first place."

Yami's jaw dropped and watched while Yugi sat up straight and tipped his head to the side, grinning from ear to ear. "How's your face, by the way? Gotta love that permanent smile, right?"

"That's enough," Kaiba snapped and Yugi calmly turned to him, as if he'd just noticed he was there. "I've had it up to here with that attitude of yours. He's here and you're gonna answer all of his questions."

"Fine," Yugi huffed, wiping at his face with his sleeve to get rid of the fake tears. "Let's see if Scarface has gotten any better at interrogating because last time, he fucked up pretty bad and got his ego bruised."

All those insults in that single sentence made Yami's eye twitch. It hadn't even been five minutes and Yugi had already taken away what was left of his dignity and thrown it in his face. Though, he could have sworn there was a different person sitting there when he came in. Then again, Yugi had shown him multiple personalities before and he should have known better.

"Why did you lock me in that basement?"

"'Cause I wanted to."

"Did you do the same thing to those teenagers?"

"No."

"Then what _did _you do to them?"

"Nothing more than what you saw. Called them forward because I needed a volunteer."

"Where are they now?"

"Dunno, don't care."

"…Why did you trick me into following you?"

"Again, 'cause I wanted to."

"Where's my father's body?"

"Somewhere. Rotting."

"…" Yami opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

Yugi, looking as smug as ever, smirked up at Kaiba. "Well, I did answer all the questions truthfully. And we're _definitely _getting somewhere, aren't we?"

It was no use. It was too painful for Yami to be standing there and staring at the guy who ruined him. The room was spinning, he felt the bile coming up and his clammy hands shaking against his sides. His vision clouded and Yami quickly turned on his heel and clutched the doorknob to keep himself from falling. He could hear Yugi snickering behind him, which made it even worse.

Yugi was obviously admiring his work and enjoying the show. "Can't do it, can you? Must be tough."

The sound of loud clinking made Yami whirl back around to see that Kaiba had grabbed Yugi's collar and hauled him forward. "I said _enough_," he oh so calmly, making the hairs on Yami's arm stand up straight. "Yami, you go, he and I will talk."

"And _why _would I wanna talk to you?" Yugi smiled sweetly.

Kaiba ignored him and ushered Yami out of the room. "Don't worry, I can break him."

The door was slammed in his face and Yami took a few steps backwards until his back hit the solid wall, slowly sliding towards the floor because his legs could no longer support him. Yugi was right; he sucked at interrogating and it was humiliating. Maybe he should go back in there to observe Kaiba's way of asking questions, but it probably didn't matter. He was never meant to do this job, anyway. As soon as he had found his sister and his father's body, he'd quit.

He had gone crazy and he knew it. The moment that Yugi's voice changed it had sounded _exactly _like voice of the man who stabbed his mother. But Yami knew it was impossible because it was a _man, _Yugi was a kid back then, like him, so those two could never be the same person. And the glowing eyes never happened, either. Kaiba would have seen it because he was right there when it happened, so there was no way Yugi was connected to his mother's murderer.

Yami's head shot up when he remembered that Yugi _knew _his mother was dead. Then again, Sugoroku probably told him, but still… The way he had thrown it in his face like that was almost as if he knew damn well what he was talking about, and Sugoroku only knew that his mother was dead, not murdered.

Still, it didn't make any sense. Maybe he had imagined that part as well? No, because it triggered that flashback. There was no way he could have done that on his own.

He sat there, contemplating while absently tapping the floor with the tips of his fingers. The bandages prevented him from making a fist so this was the only thing he could do, which irritated him endlessly. His entire body was covered in that annoying white material, forcing him to remember everything. The worst one was around his neck, the one that constantly reminded him that Yugi had almost slit his throat several times, just because he wasn't "obeying" him.

Grazing the gauze with his fingertips, Yami swallowed. The cut throbbed painfully because his heartbeat had increased. He had to calm down, otherwise there was a big chance the wound would open again.

All of a sudden, a muffled scream came from the other side of the door he had been staring at.

"…" It got deadly quiet for a split second in which Yami looked up at the guard who was also slightly surprised and looked over his shoulder at the door. Yami carefully pushed himself up, feeling the sweat trickling down his neck and goose bumps appearing all over body when another shriek came out of that godforsaken room. Yelling, banging, chains clashing together, more yelling…

Kaiba was losing control. "Tell me where he is! _Now!" _

"I can't!"

Yami's eyes widened and quickly pushed himself up. "Bullshit! Spill it!"

"I…" More screaming and banging. It sounded like Yugi was continuously stomping on the floor with his bare feet. "It wasn't me, I swear!"

"Will you cut the act?!"

"If you don't do something fast, I'll—"

Yami and the guard had thrown the door open. Like Yami had guessed, Yugi was sitting on the edge of the bed, bent over, clutching his head and staring at his now irritated feet. Kaiba was panting from all the yelling, standing at the other side of the room, and Yami quickly looked at his hands, but they were unharmed.

"Everything okay in here, sir?" The guard asked cautiously.

"Didn't even touch him and the guy started screaming as if someone was hurting him. Looks like we got one hell of an actor in our midst," Kaiba sneered and clicked his tongue. "Funny thing is, he only acts that way around _me._"

Yami's breath got stuck in his throat as Yugi slowly sat up, revealing his tear-tracked cheeks, bloodshot eyes and quivering lips.

"The only reason I haven't blown his miserable brain out is because he knows where my brother is. If that weren't the case, I would've killed him twice already," Kaiba snapped and kicked the wall behind him. "I'm sick of this act."

"Sucks to be you, then."

Everyone looked back at Yugi who was back to his old self, but Yami couldn't help but think there was something off.

"Both of you, leave," Kaiba pointed at them and nodded towards the door.

"Kaiba-san, are you sure?"

"I got this."

The guard followed his orders, unlike Yami, who hadn't moved a single muscle. His eyes were focused on Yugi's, looking for nothing in particular. They were still glassy and bloodshot, even though they were focused, as if ready to pounce, but there was also a hint of – Yami couldn't believe it – panic? _Something _was making Yugi unfocused, or maybe _someone, _and that person was probably him.

"Yami, _leave_."

"No."

Wrong answer. Kaiba threateningly reached for his gun, glowering at Yami like he was a piece of trash. "I'm getting a little impatient here, kid. I can handle him."

"You're about as stupid as you look," Yugi spoke up cockily, a lopsided plastered on his pale face. "Yami obviously can't stay away from me. Started falling for me during that pathetic excuse for an interview, I mean, we _kissed _and he got turned on—"

"Shut up!"

But it was too late. He had _no idea _Yugi was going to bring that up. Yami's stomach was already doing several flips per second, a familiar heat burning in his chest that spread throughout his entire body as he remembered their first kiss, and of course, Kaiba staring at him incredulously, beyond shocked and apparently speechless. Yugi, on the other hand, had never looked so smug and leaned back on the bed, grinning proudly.

If it weren't for Yugi's sickening smirk, the atmosphere would have been as cold as ice. Kaiba's shocked expression soon turned into a confused one and Yami swallowed, not wanting to hear the words that were about to come out of his boss' mouth.

"Outside. Now," Kaiba breathed and didn't even wait for answer, because he pushed Yami not too gently out of the room. As soon as he had closed the door, Kaiba turned back to him, still looking slightly shocked. "Is it true?"

"I…"

"Have you," Kaiba started, his confusion morphing into anger. "completely _lost your mind?!" _

His last words echoed through the entire hall and made Yami jump. "It's not like that!"

"Do you actually _realize _you're in love with a psychopath?"

"I'm not—"

"You thought he was a suspect so you went ahead and _kissed _him?!"

Yami covered his face with his hands for a second to calm himself down, but he couldn't.

Flashes of Yugi forcing him into kisses and touching him all over were starting to take over his mind. He was tied to that chair again, not able to move while Yugi took advantage of him, humiliating him endlessly by whispering things in his ear and grinning against his cheek. He could practically _feel _Yugi's hands all over him again, going under his clothes to make it even worse, and—

He shook his head. "No."

"No what?"

Pressing his lips together, Yami looked back at Kaiba with moist eyes. "There's something I haven't told you yet."

Kaiba frowned. "What, what is it?"

"He…" Yami literally had to force the words out. "He sexually assaulted me when I was tied to that chair. About three times a day. Because… he knew that I liked him."

The silence that followed was painful. Kaiba kept looking at him, his eyes shining with some sympathy, which Yami tried to appreciate, but since his body was still in survival mode, he couldn't. His entire face felt hot and his hands were shaking against his sides. It was the first time he had admitted having feelings for that asshole, to himself, and to another person, and it felt so utterly wrong and disgusting that he wanted nothing more than to stop breathing for good.

"God," Kaiba uttered and ran a hand over his sweaty face. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I dunno," Yami lied, averting his gaze because he could no longer look him in the eye. "Didn't think it was important."

"Of course it is! Because now I've got even more reasons to put a bullet in his screwed up head! What the hell did he do to you?"

Apparently he didn't care that several guards were listening cautiously to every word and Yami suddenly felt the urge to kick them all in the balls. Kaiba had grabbed his shoulders and was lightly squeezing them, watching him carefully with gentle eyes. It seemed so out of character that Yami almost wanted to laugh out loud, but at the same time, it was so very frightening that Kaiba was starting to go crazy. Over the past two months, he had never been this close to insanity and it scared Yami to death, because Kaiba was the one he looked up to the most.

"I don't want to talk about it," Yami quickly brought out after Kaiba had given him a rough shake. "You'll probably hear it from Ishizu anyway because I _have _to tell her everything."

Kaiba sighed through his nose and practically buried his fingernails into Yami's shirt. "If you really don't want me to know, then I won't force you to talk, but these things are important."

But it was too late. His eyes were pricking with tears while memories constantly replayed themselves in his head. All the wounds started throbbing in synch with his heartbeat and before he could stop himself, he was sinking to the ground, not being able to stand up straight anymore. His chest tightened up to the point where it was becoming hard to breathe and a cold feeling washed over him, as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on him.

Someone was yelling at him and some of the guards ran towards them, but all the sounds were muffled.

Yugi carelessly placed himself between his legs. Hot, moist lips were pressed against his neck, sucking and nibbling on the spot below his ear and a hand was teasingly slipping down his pants. Yami was completely frozen, his heart ramming painfully against his ribcage, lips tightly pressed together as he felt Yugi slowly unbuttoning his shirt. Yugi's attitude had suddenly changed after he had punched him in the face at least five times, and Yami couldn't be more confused.

"So sweet…" Yugi mouthed against his skin and almost gently cupped his cheek, forcing him to look into his eyes. "You want it, don't you?"

Before he could answer, Yugi had already hauled him forward so their lips met in a messy, wet kiss. Breaths mingled, hips clashed and moans filled the air, making Yami want to jump out of his skin. It wasn't until Yugi's hot hand sneaked under his boxers that he thought he was going to faint.

"Oi, Yami!"

"_Stop resisting, will you? Your body's enjoying it and so are you_."

Both pain and pleasure coursed through his body. A knife against his throat made him immobile while Yugi's teasingly stroked the inside of his wounded thigh. Every little touch felt like an electric shock, making him twitch and jump, causing his skin to tear. Long nails trailed every inch of his skin, gentle and light while Yugi smiled at him like a lover would. A tingly sensation came to live in his chest and made its way all the way down to his toes, as if he was simply spending time with his significant other and enjoying a cliché afternoon together.

The blade was pressed further into his skin, drawing several drops of blood, but the pain melted away after Yugi massaged his hip. Delicate fingertips drew tiny circles on the protruding bone, feigning innocence. Yami's breath got caught in his throat, feeling blood rushing to his face as the tingly sensation came back, but this time, in his crotch. It was terrifying and arousing at the same time. His brain was torn between enjoying the igniting touches and telling Yugi to stop.

"… I'm stuck in a flashback," he breathed and clutched his head. "and I can't get out."

Little, black spots danced in front of his eyes, he felt the bile coming up and his head spinning around. The last thing he heard was Kaiba's booming voice before his body finally gave in and he slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

**Author's note: **Eeeeh? Eh? Please love me, this chapter was such a pain in my everything, you don't even know alsidufhjdkas So much creepiness and sadness and draaaamaaaaa. Where's my fluff

But on the bright side, Yugi's an asshole. :DDD

Please don't forget to leave a review!


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